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Science 4 January 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5859, pp. 79 - 81
DOI: 10.1126/science.1149514
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Reports

Temperature and Composition of Saturn's Polar Hot Spots and Hexagon

L. N. Fletcher,1* P. G. J. Irwin,1 G. S. Orton,2 N. A. Teanby,1 R. K. Achterberg,3 G. L. Bjoraker,3 P. L. Read,1 A. A. Simon-Miller,3 C. Howett,1 R. de Kok,1 N. Bowles,1 S. B. Calcutt,1 B. Hesman,3 F. M. Flasar3

Saturn's poles exhibit an unexpected symmetry in hot, cyclonic polar vortices, despite huge seasonal differences in solar flux. The cores of both vortices are depleted in phosphine gas, probably resulting from subsidence of air into the troposphere. The warm cores are present throughout the upper troposphere and stratosphere at both poles. The thermal structure associated with the marked hexagonal polar jet at 77°N has been observed for the first time. Both the warm cyclonic belt at 79°N and the cold anticyclonic zone at 75°N exhibit the hexagonal structure.

1 Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
3 NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fletcher{at}atm.ox.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Dynamics of Saturn's South Polar Vortex.
U. A. Dyudina, A. P. Ingersoll, S. P. Ewald, A. R. Vasavada, R. A. West, A. D. Del Genio, J. M. Barbara, C. C. Porco, R. K. Achterberg, F. M. Flasar, et al. (2008)
Science 319, 1801
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)