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Saturn's south polar vortex compared to other large vortices in the Solar System |
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| Authors: | Ulyana A Dyudina Andrew P Ingersoll Ashwin R Vasavada Kevin H Baines Anthony D Del Genio Carolyn C Porco F Michael Flasar Leigh N Fletcher |
| Institution: | a Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, 150-21, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA b Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA c Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025, USA d Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations, Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301, USA e NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 693, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA |
| Abstract: | Observations made by the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) and the long-wavelength Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) aboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal that the large, long-lived cyclonic vortex at Saturn's south pole has a 4200-km-diameter cloud-free nearly circular region. This region has a 4 K warm core extending from the troposphere into the stratosphere, concentric cloud walls extending 20-70 km above the internal clouds, and numerous external clouds whose anticyclonic vorticity suggests a convective origin. The rotation speeds of the vortex reach  . The Saturn polar vortex has features in common with terrestrial hurricanes and with the Venus polar vortex. Neptune and other giant planets may also have strong polar vortices. |
| Keywords: | Saturn atmosphere Atmospheres dynamics Infrared observations Meteorology Spectroscopy |
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