Interaction of Saturn’s Hexagon with convective storms

Document typeArticle
Defense date2021-04-26
Rights accessOpen Access
All rights reserved. This work is protected by the corresponding intellectual and industrial
property rights. Without prejudice to any existing legal exemptions, reproduction, distribution, public
communication or transformation of this work are prohibited without permission of the copyright holder
Abstract
In March 2020 a convective storm erupted at planetographic latitude 76°N in the southern flank of Saturn’s long-lived hexagonal wave. The storm reached a zonal size of 4,500 km and developed a tail extending zonally 33,000 km. Two new short-lived storms erupted in May in the hexagon edge. These storms formed after the convective storms that took place in 2018 in nearby latitudes. There were no noticeable changes in the zonal profile of Saturn's polar winds in 2018-2020. Measurements of the longitude position of the vertices of the hexagon throughout this period yield a value for its period of rotation equal to that of System III of radio-rotation measured at the time of Voyagers. We report changes in the hexagon clouds related to the activity of the storms. Our study reinforces the idea that Saturn’s hexagon is a well rooted structure with a possible direct relationship with the bulk rotation of the planet.
CitationSánchez, A. [et al.]. Interaction of Saturn's Hexagon with convective storms. "Geophysical research letters", 26 Abril 2021, vol. 48, núm. 8, p. e2021GL092461/1-e2021GL092461/16.
ISSN0094-8276
Publisher versionhttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021GL092461
Files | Description | Size | Format | View |
---|---|---|---|---|
Storms-Hexagon_GRL_20210330-Rm (1).pdf | 2,188Mb | View/Open |