Energy Exchanges in Saturn's Polar Regions From Cassini Observations: Eddy-Zonal Flow Interactions.

ABSTRACT: Saturn's polar regions (polewards of ∼63° planetocentric latitude) are strongly dynamically active with zonal jets, polar cyclones and the intriguing north polar hexagon (NPH) wave. Here we analyze measurements of horizontal winds, previously obtained from Cassini images by Antuñano et al. (2015), https://doi.org/10.1002/2014je004709, to determine the spatial and spectral exchanges of kinetic energy (KE) between zonal mean zonal jets and nonaxisymmetric eddies in Saturn's polar regions. Eddies of most resolved scales generally feed KE into the eastward and westward zonal mean jets at rates between 4.3 × 10^-5 and 1.4 × 10^-4 W kg^-1. In particular, the north polar jet (at 76°N) was being energized at a rate of ∼10^-4 W kg^-1, dominated by t

SUBMITTER: Read PL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9285433 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature