A Study Of The South Pole And Equatorial Atmosphere Of Saturn Using Cassini Iss Images

Details A Study Of The South Pole And Equatorial Atmosphere Of Saturn Using Cassini Iss Images A Study Of The South Pole And Equatorial Atmosphere Of Saturn Using Cassini Iss Images

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.3905s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #39.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.554

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Cassini-ISS images obtained in a wide spectral range in July 2004, September 2004 and February 2005 have been used to study the motions and the vertical cloud structure in Saturn's southern pole and equatorial atmosphere. First, cloud tracking of individual features on images taken at a wavelength of 938 nm reveal the existence of a strong polar vortex enclosed by a jet with maximum speed of 160 ± 10 ms-1 relative to System III rotation frame, and peak at 87º S planetographic latitude. Radiative transfer models of the reflected light, based on the Cassini images complemented by Hubble Space Telescope images indicate that the aerosol particles in the vortex are structured vertically in three detached layers: we find two hazes and one dense cloud distributed in altitude between 500 mbar (top of the dense cloud) and few mbar (top of the stratospheric haze), spanning a vertical altitude range of 200 km. The vortex area coincides with a thermal hot spot recently reported, indicating that winds decrease with altitude above polar clouds. Second, the three-dimensional structure of Saturn's intense equatorial jet is revealed from detailed measurements of the motions and spectral reflectivity of clouds. Between latitudes 5º North and 12º South the winds increase their velocity with depth from 250 ms-1 at the 50 mbar pressure level to 375 ms-1 at 700 mbar. This vertical wind shear is unable to explain the high wind speeds of 475 ms-1 measured during the Voyager era in 1980-81, indicating that the equatorial jet has probably suffered a significant intensity change between that period and 1996-2005.

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