A Giant Storm in Saturn's Northern Hemisphere

Details A Giant Storm in Saturn's Northern Hemisphere A Giant Storm in Saturn's Northern Hemisphere

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p11h..03k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P11H-03

Other

[3324] Atmospheric Processes / Lightning, [3360] Atmospheric Processes / Remote Sensing, [5704] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Atmospheres, [5739] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Meteorology

Scientific paper

Beginning on December 5, 2010, an extraordinary thunderstorm developed as observed via the radio signatures of lightning using the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument and the appearance of a convective cloud in Cassini's Imaging Science System (ISS) images. These instruments as well as amateur astronomers across the globe have continued to track this storm to the present. The storm is extraordinary in that it is the first observed by Cassini in the northern hemisphere near 35 degrees planetocentric north latitude and is, by far, the largest storm observed by Cassini during its mission at Saturn and is comparable to the Great White Spot (GWS) storms observed approximately once per Saturn year. The development from the barely visible indications on December 5 to a storm of GWS status occurred over about 3 weeks. Expansion of the storm in latitude within a latitudinal gradient in the wind system of the planet resulted in an elongated eastward tail which entirely circled the planet by February 2011. The primary active cell lies in a relatively localized area around the main plume of high altitude clouds that overshoot the ammonia cloud layer due to strong vertical convection, although other, weaker cells occasionally develop within the tail. The lightning flash rate of this storm peaked at an order of magnitude higher than previously recorded storms with strokes occurring at the rate of 10 per second and the total power estimated for the storm is comparable to Saturn's total emitted power, making it a significant element of the planet's energy budget. That this storm occurred a year or so after northern vernal equinox suggests a seasonal change in the location of Saturn's thunderstorms. We will summarize observations of this extraordinary storm and update its progress as it is ongoing at the time of this writing.

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