A Wave Dynamical Interpretation of Saturn's Polar Hexagon

The hexagonal, pole-centered cloud feature in Saturn's northern atmosphere, as revealed in Voyager close-encounter imaging mosaics, may be interpreted as a stationary Rossby wave. The wave is embedded within a sharply peaked eastward jet (of 100 meters per second) and appears to be perturbed by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1990-03, Vol.247 (4946), p.1061-1063
Main Authors: Allison, M., Godfrey, D. A., Beebe, R. F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
640107 - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena
Astronomy
Atmosphere
ATMOSPHERES
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
CLOUDS
Coordinate systems
DYNAMICS
Earth atmosphere
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Hexagons
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
Mosaic
MOTION
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
Planetary rotation
Planetary waves
PLANETS
Planets, their satellites and rings. Asteroids
Rossby waves
Saturn
SATURN PLANET
Solar system
SPACE VEHICLES
STRATIFICATION
VEHICLES
VORTICES
Vorticity
VOYAGER SPACE PROBES
Waves
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Description
Summary:The hexagonal, pole-centered cloud feature in Saturn's northern atmosphere, as revealed in Voyager close-encounter imaging mosaics, may be interpreted as a stationary Rossby wave. The wave is embedded within a sharply peaked eastward jet (of 100 meters per second) and appears to be perturbed by at least one anticyclonic oval vortex immediately to the south. The effectively exact observational determination of the horizontal wave number and phase speed, applied to a simple model dispersion relation, suggests that the wave is vertically trapped and provides a diagnostic template for further modeling of the deep atmospheric stratification.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.247.4946.1061