Dynamics of Saturn’s great storm of 2010–2011 from Cassini ISS and RPWS

• DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2012.12.013
• Publication Date: 2013-01-09T23:17:29Z
• Authors: Kunio M. Sayanagi; Ulyana A. Dyudina; Shawn P. Ewald; Georg Fischer; Andrew P. Ingersoll; William S. Kurth; Gabriel D. Muro; Carolyn C. Porco; Robert A. West
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Atmospheres; 550; Atmosphere; FOS: Physical sciences; 551; 01 natural sciences; Dynamics; Saturn; Meteorology; 13. Climate action; 0103 physical sciences; Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

17 figures<br/>Saturn's quasi-periodic planet-encircling storms are the largest convecting outbursts in the Solar System. The last eruption was in 1990. A new eruption started in December 2010 and presented the first-ever opportunity to observe such episodic storms from a spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. Here, we analyze images acquired with the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), which captured the storm's birth, evolution and demise. In studying the end of the convective activity, we also analyze the Saturn Electrostatic Discharge (SED) signals detected by the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument. [...]<br/>