학술논문
Strong Temporal Variation Over One Saturnian Year: From Voyager to Cassini
Document Type
Report
Author
Li, Liming; Achterberg, Richard K; Conrath, Barney J; Gierasch, Peter J; Smith, Mark A; Simon-Miller, Amy A; Nixon, Conor A; Orton, Glenn S; Flasar, F. Michael; Jiang, Xun; Baines, Kevin H; Morales-Juberias, Raul; Ingersoll, Andrew P; Vasavada, Ashwin R; DelGenio, Anthony D; West, Robert A; Ewald, Shawn P
Source
Scientific Reports. 3
Subject
Language
English
Abstract
Here we report the combined spacecraft observations of Saturn acquired over one Saturnian year (approximately 29.5 Earth years), from the Voyager encounters (1980-81) to the new Cassini reconnaissance (2009-10). The combined observations reveal a strong temporal increase of tropic temperature (approximately 10 Kelvins) around the tropopause of Saturn (i.e., 50 mbar), which is stronger than the seasonal variability (approximately a few Kelvins). We also provide the first estimate of the zonal winds at 750 mbar, which is close to the zonal winds at 2000 mbar. The quasi-consistency of zonal winds between these two levels provides observational support to a numerical suggestion inferring that the zonal winds at pressures greater than 500 mbar do not vary significantly with depth. Furthermore, the temporal variation of zonal winds decreases its magnitude with depth, implying that the relatively deep zonal winds are stable with time.