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Saturn's Equatorial Oscillation: Evidence of Descending Thermal Structure from Cassini Radio OccultationsA series of near-equatorial radio occultations of Cassini by Saturn occurred in 2005 and again in 2009-2010. Comparison of the temperature-pressure profiles obtained from the two sets of occultations shows evidence of a descending pattern in the stratosphere that is similar to those associated with equatorial oscillations in Earth's middle atmosphere. This is the first time that this descent has been observed in another planetary atmosphere. If absorption of upwardly propagating waves drives the descent, the implied absorbed flux is 0.05 square meters per square second at least as large if not greater than on Earth.
Document ID
20110012859
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Schinder, P. J.
(Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
Flasar, F. M.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Marouf, E. A.
(San Jose State Univ. San Jose, CA, United States)
French, R. G.
(Wellesley Coll. MA, United States)
McGhee, C. A.
(Wellesley Coll. MA, United States)
Kliore, A. J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Rappaport, N. J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Barbinis, E.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Fleischman, D.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Anabtawi, A.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2011
Subject Category
Geophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.4359.2011
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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