Most people are familiar with Jupiter’s stunning Great Red Spot, a storm about 10,000 miles in diameter that has roamed the surface for at least 200 years. But neighboring gas giant Saturn has not been spared storms that can be as big as Earth. This is what a new study showed in Science Advances magazine has been published.
The research group led by Cheng Li of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examined emissions from Saturn. Observations in the radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum are particularly relevant here, as they allow one to see Saturn’s haze and cloud layers. This way you can see more of what’s going on in the gas’s atmosphere. In addition, only then can the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the chemical processes occurring in it be described. Phenomena such as cloud formation and convection can be better understood through observations in the radio band.
© RJ Sault and Imke de Pater (details)
Saturn in light of the VLA | This unusual image of Saturn was obtained by the New Mexico Very Large Array in the radio wavelength range of 2 and 3.5 cm. It allows insight into the deeper layers of the ringed planet’s atmosphere: the brightly lit region in the northern hemisphere is an area with low levels of ammonia, which can be attributed to a powerful storm in 2011.
The so-called mega storms on Saturn, which have been observed since 1876, occur every 20 to 30 years and cause disturbances in the planet’s atmosphere. The last of its kind occurred in 2010, just as NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was observing the gas giant, gathering detailed data on the event. Although huge storms are similar in some respects to hurricanes on Earth, it is difficult to compare them to them, and not only because of their size. For example, we know that terrestrial storms draw their energy from the surrounding warm seas, but how they form on Saturn remains unclear at present. Also, something strange and unexpected was discovered during the massive storm of 2010, which is called the drought effect. In other words, storms dissipate condensable vapors.
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