Saturn's Storm

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

I will ask this question again, I asked it in the thread with the first pictures of the storm but no-one responded So is it possible that this could be just like the bands on Jupiter that will be a new permanant or semi-permanant feature on Saturn

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by supernova1965

I will ask this question again, I asked it in the thread with the first pictures of the storm but no-one responded So is it possible that this could be just like the bands on Jupiter that will be a new permanant or semi-permanant feature on Saturn

Warren, I am sure Trevor (Quark) will also come back on this as well.
Saturn is a very Dynamic Planet with storms of various sizes and intensity.
In late 1990 an Ammonia storm completely encircled the planet and lasted for some months
You may know that Saturn Like Jupiter puts out more heat than it receives from the Sun, this is mainly caused by Gravitational contraction. Convection courses gases to rise and fall sometimes quickly and other times lasting some months.
I think this storm will fall into the some months category.
Cheers

[Quark (Trevor)]

Hi Warren,

It is highly unlikely that Saturn will develop a permanent band such as Jupiter's.

As Ron has already mentioned, Saturn is a net emitter of energy.
The Current storm on Saturn more or less encircles the planet but we need to understand what is fueling this phenomena.

Saturn has a hydrogen rich atmosphere with traces of methane, ammonia & water vapor. There are 3 distinct cloud layers at Saturn that extend to a depth of about 200 klm.

There is an upper cloud layer of ammonia ice crystals, an intermediate cloud layer of ammonium hydro sulfide ice crystals with a lower layer of water ice crystals. At times, due to a poorly understood internal heat source, material from the lower water ice cloud layer is forced into rapid vertical motion. This results in lightning just as is the case on Earth. This material continues to surge upward, punching through the upper ammonia ice cloud layer and mushrooming over the top. This is the white material that we can image. This material that has been dredged up from great depth then interacts with jetstreams which are circulating this material around the planet. The active part of this storm, that is the region where the Cassini RPWS (Radio & Plasma Wave Science) instrument is recording SED's (Saturn Electrostatic Discharge) or lightning is limited to about the first 50 degrees longitude back from the head of the storm and there is little or no lightning associated with the rest of the tail of the storm.

This particular storm is unprecedented at Saturn and is likely the largest, brightest and most active electrical storm recorded on any planet within our Solar System.

I have been involved in tracking these SED's related storm for the Cassini RPWS team since Jan 2008 and in that time some storms have had very short lives while others have lasted for months. When the level of SED's does drop off and stop the supply of material being dredged up will cease and the white plumes that we see will dissipate and Saturns atmosphere will return to its normal bland look.

Regards
Trevor

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Wow Thanks both of you I am glad I started this thread I have learnt more about Saturn today than I have learnt since developing my interest in astronomy what a great resource this site is

[mr bruess]

the north pole of Saturn: A long-lived double hexagon formed in the clouds.
the unexplained hexagons was glimpsed before, by the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts more than 20 years ago,
Cassini has since confirmed it is still there. it is weired and can't be explained.
At the south pole we have what
appears to be a hurricane with a giant eye, and at the north pole of Saturn we
have this hexagon feature.