US research team “Discovery of abnormal distribution of ammonia concentration in the atmosphere… Effect of past giant storms”
A study has found that Saturn has huge storms that last for hundreds of years and affect the atmosphere, just like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, which is famous for being the largest storm in the solar system.
A research team from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, analyzed radio waves emitted from Saturn in the scientific journal ‘Science Advances’ on the 14th, and traces of a giant storm that occurred hundreds of years ago still remain deep in the atmosphere. stated that they had discovered that
It is known that every 20 to 30 years, a giant storm similar to a hurricane, but of a much larger scale, blows on Saturn. Not revealed.
Saturn radio image taken in May 2015 by the Carl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico, USA. Ammonia in Saturn’s atmosphere blocks radio waves, so the bright areas are regions where the ammonia is depleted and the VLA can see deeper into the atmosphere. A broad bright band in northern latitudes suggests that the ammonia gas beneath the visible ice clouds was depleted in the aftermath of the 2010 megastorm. [R. J. Sault and I. de Pater 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
Professor Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, who has been studying gaseous planets in the solar system for over 40 years, investigated radio waves emitted from deep inside Saturn with the Carl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico, USA. did.
Through this, the research team discovered an abnormal distribution of ammonia gas concentration in the atmosphere, and found that the cause was related to a giant storm that occurred in the northern hemisphere.
Ammonia concentrations were found to be low at intermediate altitudes just below the uppermost ammonia ice cloud layer, but higher at lower altitudes, 100 to 200 km deeper.
The research team believes that during megastorms, ammonia rains down and travels down from the upper atmosphere through re-evaporation, an effect that can last for hundreds of years.
Optical images show a smooth transition of different color bands of the atmosphere, but VLA radiographs show more distinct banding. Analysis of VLA data revealed that megastorms carried ammonia from the upper atmosphere to the lower levels. [S.Dagnello(NRAO/AUI/NSF), I.de Pater et al(UC Berkeley) 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
The study also revealed that Saturn and Jupiter, both composed of hydrogen gas, are very different. Tropospheric anomalies are also observed on Jupiter, but this is due to the difference between the white area and the dark band area, not due to storms like Saturn.
The large differences between these gas giant neighbors run counter to existing hypotheses about giant storms occurring on gas planets and other planets, and could affect how we discover and study giant storms on exoplanets in the future, the team said. .
“Radio observations help reveal phenomena such as heat transport, cloud formation, and convection in the atmospheres of giant planets,” said Li Cheung, a professor at the University of Michigan and lead author of the paper. By applying it to a wider cosmic context, we will be able to expand the boundaries of terrestrial meteorology.”
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