Mystery Behind Saturn's Massive Storms Solved: A Study

In an exciting revelation, scientists say they now understand the nature of the giant storms found on Saturn.

About once every Saturnian year - the equivalent of 30 Earth years - an enormous storm is produced on the ringed planet known as the Great White Spot.

First observed in 1876, the Great White Spot of 2010 was the sixth one ever to be observed. And, in this instance, the Cassini space vehicle was able to obtain extremely high resolution images of the massive meteorological structure.

Initially a small, white cloud in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, the storm grew rapidly, remaining active for more than seven months.

Through the analysis of images sent back from the space vehicle, in addition to computer models of the storms and an examination of the clouds within the Great White Spot of 2010, a team of astronomers from the Planetary Sciences Group of the University of the Basque Country was able to study the "head" of the storm, revealing that, in this specific region, the storm interacts with the circulating atmosphere.

As this happens, the scientists report in their study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, sustained winds are formed, typically measuring 500 kilometers per hour.

This, the researchers explained, was a surprise.

"We did not expect to find such violent circulation in the region of the development of the storm, which is a symptom of the particularly violent interaction between the storm and the planet's atmosphere," team member Enrique García said in a press release.

Furthermore, the scientists were able to determine that the storm clouds were located a good 40 kilometers above the planet's average clouds.

Mathematical models capable of reproducing the storm on a computer, meanwhile, provided a physical explanation for the behavior of the giant storm and lengthy duration, pointing to calculations that show the focus of the storm is embedded an estimated 300 kilometers above the visible clouds.

The storm, they found, is responsible for transporting enormous quantities of moist gas in water vapor to the highest levels of the planet, forming visible clouds and releasing massive amounts of energy. This injection of energy, in turn, interacts violently with Saturn's dominant wind in order to produce the wind storm of 500 kilometers per hour.

Additionally, the research shows that, despite the massive activity of the storm, it was not enough to substantially modify the prevailing winds that permanently blow in the same direction along the planet's surface, much like the Earth's parallels. It was enough, however, to interact with them in a fierce manner.

Besides satisfying the curiosity humanity has long harbored about the physical processes underlying the formation of the massive storms, the study further enables scientists to better understand the models used in researching the meteorology and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere in a much different environment impossible to simulate in a laboratory, according to the team of researchers.

"The storms on Saturn are, in a way, a test bank of the physical mechanisms underlying the generation of similar meteorological phenomena on Earth", commented Agustín Sánchez Lavega, director of the Planetary Sciences Group.