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Science 2 March 1990:
Vol. 247. no. 4946, pp. 1061 - 1063
DOI: 10.1126/science.247.4946.1061
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Articles

A Wave Dynamical Interpretation of Saturn's Polar Hexagon

M. Allison 1, D. A. Godfrey 2, and R. F. Beebe 3

1 National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025
2 National Optical Astronomy Observatories, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85726
3 New Mexico State University, Post Office Box 4500, Las Cruces, NM 88003

The hexagonal, pole-centered cloud feature in Saturn's northern atmosphere, as revealed in Voyager close-encounter imaging mosaics, may be interpreted as a stationary Rossby wave. The wave is embedded within a sharply peaked eastward jet (of 100 meters per second) and appears to be perturbed by at least one anticyclonic oval vortex immediately to the south. The effectively exact observational determination of the horizontal wave number and phase speed, applied to a simple model dispersion relation, suggests that the wave is vertically trapped and provides a diagnostic template for further modeling of the deep atmospheric stratification.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Temperature and Composition of Saturn's Polar Hot Spots and Hexagon.
L. N. Fletcher, P. G. J. Irwin, G. S. Orton, N. A. Teanby, R. K. Achterberg, G. L. Bjoraker, P. L. Read, A. A. Simon-Miller, C. Howett, R. de Kok, et al. (2008)
Science 319, 79-81
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ground-Based Observations of Saturn's North Polar Spot and Hexagon.
A. Sanchez-Lavega, J. Lecacheux, F. Colas, and P. Laques (1993)
Science 260, 329-332
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)