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Big storm on Saturn
J.J.
post Jan 28 2011, 05:16 PM
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^
That seems to be the pattern: white spots blowing up, and fairly quickly spreading out into a latitudinal zone until it eventually loses its identity.


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Mr. Milton Banan...
post Jan 30 2011, 08:15 AM
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So, exactly what kind of storm is this? Is this a massive thunderstorm complex? It would be interesting to really get down to what this is, specifically. If the original spot is a massive collection of thunderclouds, does this mean that they spread out to create a band around the planet?


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Juramike
post Jan 30 2011, 06:03 PM
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I think there is a massive anticyclonic upwelling from a lower layer, and the white stuff is just the upper level turbulence and shear between belts and zones are making high clouds that are extending and encircling the planet.

Unless the upwelling is able to self-sustain, it'll eventually run out of steam (probably literally!) and the upper clouds will dissipate.

I may be wrong, but I think of this as a hurricane sucking in energy at a lower warmer level (where there is a cyclonic flow we can't observe), then moving it up the central column, where it pushes outwards at the lower cooler level. The whole thing driven by the upper and lower level temperature differential and the transfer of energy via condensation of ....water? ammonia?.

That's my guess...


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Mr. Milton Banan...
post Jan 30 2011, 09:22 PM
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I emailed Carolyn Porco to find out if they were going to investigate lightning flashes within that storm, and I was told they would attempt it. I wonder if it would be possible to check for lightning flashes from the night side of Saturn. Because...if this is an upwelling of thunderstorms, I'd imagine there would be some intense lightning there.


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stevesliva
post Jan 30 2011, 09:56 PM
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They "hear" lighting with the radio science instrument, if I recall correctly. As stated earlier, seeing it's a lot tougher with a still camera that they generally point at the daylight side of the planet.
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volcanopele
post Jan 30 2011, 10:10 PM
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The RPWS can "listen" for electrical discharges from lightning in the storm, but actually looking for lightning on Saturn on the planet's nightside requires dedicated observations that are planned 6-12 months in advance. Another issue to keep in mind is that the northern hemisphere is currently being illuminated by Saturn's rings, which can complicate lightning detection.


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Gsnorgathon
post Jan 31 2011, 05:54 AM
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And even the southern hemisphere is somewhat illuminated by forward-scattered light from the rings. (Though maybe it's no worse than night time on Earth illuminated by a full moon - I've never researched it.)
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ngunn
post Feb 6 2011, 10:32 PM
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It appears the storm now has a ghostly neighbour: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...6/W00066521.jpg
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Ian R
post Feb 6 2011, 10:48 PM
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Here's a faux-colour version (CB-GRN-BLU), rotated so that north is at the 11 o'clock position:

Attached Image


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Juramike
post Feb 7 2011, 02:22 AM
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Animated blink between Jan 15th and February 4 images in false color [MT3,MT2,CB2]:

Attached Image


I think the "ghost" is a vortex riding the wake of the western edge of the storm front.


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volcanopele
post Feb 7 2011, 02:29 AM
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QUOTE (ngunn @ Feb 6 2011, 03:32 PM) *
It appears the storm now has a ghostly neighbour: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...6/W00066521.jpg

No, that's the same storm. It has just now met its tail.


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Juramike
post Feb 7 2011, 02:37 AM
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Whoo-woo! All aboard the storm train! Here's a non-time sequenced animation of the storm, ordered by faked Saturn rotation:

Attached Image

[Animated GIF - click to animate]

Sequence of images is 1/12, 2/4, 1/15, 1/15.


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nprev
post Feb 7 2011, 05:02 AM
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Wow. Damn. blink.gif

Times like this I remember how back in the day the meme was that the outer Solar System was presumed to be nearly static for lack of solar energy...man, talk about a swing & a miss in SO many, many ways that we know about already, and probably a lot more that we don't know yet! tongue.gif


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Guest_Sunspot_*
post Feb 7 2011, 08:34 AM
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Are they going to get any high resolution images of it?
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Juramike
post Feb 25 2011, 12:52 PM
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Wow!!! blink.gif blink.gif

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=233338

Lots of high resolution IR images down on the Cassini raws page.


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