Getting the Spin Right: The Importance of Knowing Saturn’s Rate of Rotation for Assessing Global Circulation and Dynamics

Details Getting the Spin Right: The Importance of Knowing Saturn’s Rate of Rotation for Assessing Global Circulation and Dynamics Getting the Spin Right: The Importance of Knowing Saturn’s Rate of Rotation for Assessing Global Circulation and Dynamics

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p53c..09b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P53C-09

Other

[5704] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Atmospheres, [5754] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Polar Regions

Scientific paper

Estimates of the spin rate of Saturn vary by approximately 10 minutes about the nominal Voyager-derived rate of 10 hours 39 min. 24 sec. At the equator, this uncertainty amounts to variations in the measured cloud-tracked windspeeds of ~155 m/s. If Saturn is actually rotating slower than the Voyager-derived rate, the equatorial windspeed increases to > 620 m/s, rendering the winds there the fastest in the Solar System. In this case, nowhere on Saturn would the winds be retrograde: the slowest winds would be prograde at speeds greater than 100 m/s. Conversely, if the rate of Saturn’s rotation is faster than the Voyager rate by 10 minutes, retrograde winds as high as ~165 m/s would be present, double the speed of the greatest retrograde winds on Jupiter. Indeed, the maximum winds of Saturn would be approximately twice that of Jupiter in both the retrograde and prograde directions. A new retrograde jet of ~ 135 m/s would then be identified near 48 degrees (planetocentric) latitude, thus giving Saturn 7 high-speed retrograde jets vs the 6 slow retrograde windstreams derived from the Voyager-based rotation period. The north polar hexagon near 76.5 degrees (planetocentric) latitude would be a retrograde-moving features, travelling westward at ~ 35 m/s, while the jet of clouds racing around the hexagon would be traveling with a prograde velocity near 90 m/s, consistent with the directions of motion of a planetary Rossby wave. The implications of retrograde and prograde winds on possible formation mechanisms for other long-lived (> 2 years) dynamical features, including the “String of Pearls” near 33.5 degrees N. and the annular cloud feature near 49 degrees N., will be discussed,

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Getting the Spin Right: The Importance of Knowing Saturn’s Rate of Rotation for Assessing Global Circulation and Dynamics does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Getting the Spin Right: The Importance of Knowing Saturn’s Rate of Rotation for Assessing Global Circulation and Dynamics, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Getting the Spin Right: The Importance of Knowing Saturn’s Rate of Rotation for Assessing Global Circulation and Dynamics will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1774634