Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK.
Science. 2011 Jun 17;332(6036):1413-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1204774. Epub 2011 May 19.
Saturn's slow seasonal evolution was disrupted in 2010-2011 by the eruption of a bright storm in its northern spring hemisphere. Thermal infrared spectroscopy showed that within a month, the resulting planetary-scale disturbance had generated intense perturbations of atmospheric temperatures, winds, and composition between 20° and 50°N over an entire hemisphere (140,000 kilometers). The tropospheric storm cell produced effects that penetrated hundreds of kilometers into Saturn's stratosphere (to the 1-millibar region). Stratospheric subsidence at the edges of the disturbance produced "beacons" of infrared emission and longitudinal temperature contrasts of 16 kelvin. The disturbance substantially altered atmospheric circulation, transporting material vertically over great distances, modifying stratospheric zonal jets, exciting wave activity and turbulence, and generating a new cold anticyclonic oval in the center of the disturbance at 41°N.
土星的季节性演变缓慢，但在 2010 年至 2011 年，其北部春季半球的一场强烈风暴爆发，打乱了这一进程。热红外光谱分析表明，在一个月内，由此产生的行星尺度干扰在整个半球（14 万公里）上产生了 20°至 50°N 之间大气温度、风和成分的强烈波动。整个对流层风暴细胞产生的影响深入到土星平流层数百公里处（至 1 毫巴区域）。干扰边缘的平流层下沉产生了红外发射的“信标”和 16 开尔文的纵向温度对比。干扰极大地改变了大气环流，将物质垂直输送到很远的距离，改变了平流层纬向喷流，激发了波活动和湍流，并在 41°N 的干扰中心产生了一个新的冷反气旋椭圆形。
