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Deep winds beneath Saturn’s upper clouds from a seasonal long-lived planetary-scale storm

Nature volume 475, pages 71–74 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Convective storms occur regularly in Saturn’s atmosphere1,2,3,4. Huge storms known as Great White Spots, which are ten times larger than the regular storms, are rarer and occur about once per Saturnian year (29.5 Earth years). Current models propose that the outbreak of a Great White Spot is due to moist convection induced by water5,6. However, the generation of the global disturbance and its effect on Saturn’s permanent winds1,7 have hitherto been unconstrained8 by data, because there was insufficient spatial resolution and temporal sampling9,10,11 to infer the dynamics of Saturn’s weather layer (the layer in the troposphere where the cloud forms). Theoretically, it has been suggested that this phenomenon is seasonally controlled5,9,10. Here we report observations of a storm at northern latitudes in the peak of a weak westward jet during the beginning of northern springtime, in accord with the seasonal cycle but earlier than expected. The storm head moved faster than the jet, was active during the two-month observation period, and triggered a planetary-scale disturbance that circled Saturn but did not significantly alter the ambient zonal winds. Numerical simulations of the phenomenon show that, as on Jupiter12, Saturn’s winds extend without decay deep down into the weather layer, at least to the water-cloud base at pressures of 10–12 bar, which is much deeper than solar radiation penetrates.

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Figure 1: Initial growth of the Great White Spot.
Figure 2: Expansion of the storm clouds and the planetary-scale disturbance.
Figure 3: Zonal winds from motions of the disturbance clouds.
Figure 4: Models of the GWS planetary-scale disturbance.

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Acknowledgements

A.S.-L., T.d.R.-G., R.H., J.L., J.M.G.-F., E.G.-M. and J.F.S.-R. are supported by the Spanish MICIIN, by FEDER and by Gobierno Vasco. We thank S. Pérez-Hoyos for initial support of this study and M. Alises and A. Guijarro for taking the Calar Alto Observatory images (CAHA and MPG/CSIC). E.G.-M. used computing facilities at CESCA (Barcelona) supported by MICIIN. L.N.F. is supported by a Glasstone fellowship at the University of Oxford. The International Outer Planet Watch (IOPW) Team and other individual contributors listed in Supplementary Information provided most of the images used for tracking in this study; these images were complemented in some cases with images taken from contributors to the ALPO Japan (Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers) database (http://alpo-j.asahikawa-med.ac.jp/indexE.htm).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física Aplicada I, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad del País Vasco, Alameda Urquijo s/n, 48013 Bilbao, Spain,

    A. Sánchez-Lavega, T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia & R. Hueso

  2. Esteve Duran Observatory Foundation, 08553 Seva, Spain ,

    J. M. Gómez-Forrellad & E. García-Melendo

  3. Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes, C/Padre Julio Chevalier, 47012 Valladolid, Spain ,

    J. F. Sanz-Requena

  4. Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, EUITI, Universidad País Vasco, Plaza de la Casilla 3, 48012 Bilbao, Spain,

    J. Legarreta

  5. Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Facultat de Ciències, Torre C5, parell, 2a pl., E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain ,

    E. García-Melendo

  6. Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides, Observatoire de Paris, UMR 8028 CNRS, 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France ,

    F. Colas

  7. Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, 5, Place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France ,

    J. Lecacheux

  8. Department of Physics, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK,

    L. N. Fletcher

  9. Observatorio de Calar Alto, Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán, MPIA-CSIC, 04004 Almería, Spain ,

    D. Barrado-Navascués

  10. Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO), 12911 Lerida Street, Coral Gables, 33156, Florida, USA

    D. Parker

  11. ALPO-Japan (Kansai branch) 520-0242, 4-8-11, Honkatata Otsu-city, Shiga, Japan, and IOPW at Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Bilbao, Ald. Urquijo s/n 48013 Bilbao, Spain.,

    T. Akutsu, S. Ghomizadeh, T. Ikemura, A. Kazemoto, T. Kumamori & K. Yunoki

  12. 406 Bromide Street, Broken Hill, New South Wales 2880, Australia.,

    T. Barry

  13. Dr Jose Prades n.7, 12511 Rossell, Castellon, Spain.,

    J. Beltran

  14. 31 Raglan Street, St Kilda East, 3183 Melbourne, Australia.,

    S. Buda

  15. 606 Frank Powell Road, Buena Vista, Georgia 31803, USA ,

    B. Combs

  16. Centro de Estudos do Universo, 17380-000 Brotas, Brazil.,

    F. Carvalho

  17. Rua Gil Eanes lte. 216, 2° dto, Portais da Arrábida, Quinta do Anjo, 2850-745 Palmela, Portugal.,

    P. Casquinha

  18. 2, rue de l'Ardache, 31170 Tournefeuille, France.,

    M. Delcroix

  19. Physics Department, University of San Carlos, Nasipit, Talamban, 6000 Cebu City, Philippines.,

    C. Go

  20. 21 Tarcutta Street Cleveland, Brisbane, Queensland 4163, Australia.,

    J. Hotershall

  21. 848 S. Rosemont Ct., Gilbert, Arizona 85296, USA.,

    G. Jolly

  22. 51, Frogmore Close, Slough, SL1 9BN, UK.,

    M. Lecompte

  23. 17109 N. Eureka Trail, Surprise, Arizona 85374, USA.,

    P. Maxson

  24. 14 Glen-Hollow Dr., E-16, Holtsville, New York 11742, USA.,

    F. J. Melillo

  25. 12 Capri Crescent, Sellicks Beach, South Australia 5174, Australia.,

    D. P. Milika

  26. HC2 PO Box 20031, Aguadilla, 00603 Puerto Rico.,

    E. Morales

  27. 28 North Road, Selsey, West Sussex, PO20 0BW, UK.,

    D. Peach

  28. 1280 Johnnie Dodds Blvd, Suite 104, Mt Pleasant, South Carolina 29464, USA.,

    J. Phillips

  29. 6 Grande Rue, 91470 Pecqueuse, France.,

    J. J. Poupeau

  30. Meekrap-oord 3, 3991 VE Houten, The Netherlands.,

    J. Sussenbach

  31. 632 Byars Drive, Macon, Georgia 31210, USA.,

    G. Walker

  32. 294 Myrtle Street, Manchester, New Hampshire 03104, USA.,

    S. Walker

  33. 8 Ellalong Street, Kurri Kurri, New South Wales 2327, Australia.,

    T. Tranter

  34. PO Box 409, Campbell, Australian Capital Territory 2612, Australia.,

    A. Wesley

  35. 5755 North Point Parkway, Suite 219m, Alpharetta, Georgia 30022, USA.,

    T. Wilson

Authors
  1. A. Sánchez-Lavega
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  2. T. del Río-Gaztelurrutia
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  3. R. Hueso
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  4. J. M. Gómez-Forrellad
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  5. J. F. Sanz-Requena
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  6. J. Legarreta
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  7. E. García-Melendo
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  8. F. Colas
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  9. J. Lecacheux
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  10. L. N. Fletcher
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  11. D. Barrado-Navascués
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  12. D. Parker
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Consortia

The International Outer Planet Watch (IOPW) Team

  • T. Akutsu
  • , T. Barry
  • , J. Beltran
  • , S. Buda
  • , B. Combs
  • , F. Carvalho
  • , P. Casquinha
  • , M. Delcroix
  • , S. Ghomizadeh
  • , C. Go
  • , J. Hotershall
  • , T. Ikemura
  • , G. Jolly
  • , A. Kazemoto
  • , T. Kumamori
  • , M. Lecompte
  • , P. Maxson
  • , F. J. Melillo
  • , D. P. Milika
  • , E. Morales
  • , D. Peach
  • , J. Phillips
  • , J. J. Poupeau
  • , J. Sussenbach
  • , G. Walker
  • , S. Walker
  • , T. Tranter
  • , A. Wesley
  • , T. Wilson
  •  & K. Yunoki

Contributions

A.S.-L. coordinated the study and performed the motion and wind measurements and the interpretation. T.d.R.-G. performed the photometric measurements and filter calibrations. R.H. measured the storm growth rate and with J. Legarreta coordinated the IOPW database. J.M.G.-F. prepared the map projections and image search. J.F.S.-R. performed the radiative transfer calculations. E.G.-M. and J. Legarreta performed the EPIC simulations. F.C. and J. Lecacheux provided the Pic-du-Midi photometric images. L.N.F. provided data on the thermal structure of the storm. D.B.-N. provided the photometric images obtained at Calar Alto Observatory, and D.P. provided photometric images at selected wavelengths. All these authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript. Contributors to the IOPW-PVOL database are listed at the end of this Letter.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Sánchez-Lavega.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Lists of participants and their affiliations appear at the end of the paper.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The file contains Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary Figures 1-3 with legends and additional references. (PDF 533 kb)

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Sánchez-Lavega, A., Río-Gaztelurrutia, T., Hueso, R. et al. Deep winds beneath Saturn’s upper clouds from a seasonal long-lived planetary-scale storm. Nature 475, 71–74 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10203

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