Storms on Saturn last for hundreds of years, leaving long-lasting impacts and raising lots of scientific questions
The team said they found three distinct patches of ammonia anomalies in Saturn's atmosphere, and all six storms that have been tracked on Saturn since 1876 fell inside the latitude of the three patches. The team even found evidence of a seventh storm that likely occurred before 1876.
Li describes the storms as akin to giant hurricanes, but ones that form in different ways to their terrestrial cousins."Based on the theory of hurricane genesis on Earth, a warm ocean surface is needed," Li toldbut of course, there's no solid surface on Saturn,"How a huge hurricane can be generated and maintained without the energy supply from the warm surface beneath it is a mystery," Li added.
Take Jupiter's bands, for example - the researchers said that those bands are related to temperature differences, and recent research pointing toas a cause for their formation. Saturn's bands, however, are dominated and caused by the giant storms that form on its surface. Because they were using radio imaging to detect the bands, Li said his team was also able to determine that ammonia concentration is generally less on Saturn than on Jupiter. While he said that data is also still preliminary, it suggests a shortcoming in our current theory of planetary formation.
"We know that Saturn should have more water than Jupiter based on planetary formation models," Li told us - but ammonia is another thing altogether."If Saturn has less ammonia than Jupiter, then the theory of planetary formation should be revised." ®
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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