Journal article
Detection of visible lightning on Saturn
Geophysical research letters, Vol.37(9), L09205
05/2010
DOI: 10.1029/2010GL043188
Abstract
Until now, evidence for lightning on Saturn has been indirect - through radio emissions and cloud morphology. Here we report the first visible detection of lightning, on the night side on August 17, 2009 at -36.4 degrees +/- 0.1 degrees planetocentric latitude and 10.6 degrees +/- 0.9 degrees west longitude. No other locations produced lightning detectable by either imaging or radio. The lightning images are consistent with a single cloud flashing once per minute. The visible energy of a single flash is comparable to that on Earth and Jupiter, and ranges up to 1.7 x 10(9) Joules. The diameter of the lightning flashes is similar to 200 km, which suggests the lightning is 125-250 km below cloud tops. This depth is above the base of the liquid H2O-NH3 cloud and may be either in the NH4SH cloud or in the H2O ice cloud. Saturn's lower internal heat transport and likely 5-10 fold enrichment of water largely explain the lower occurrence rate of moist convection on Saturn relative to Jupiter. Citation: Dyudina, U. A., A. P. Ingersoll, S. P. Ewald, C. C. Porco, G. Fischer, W. S. Kurth, and R. A. West (2010), Detection of visible lightning on Saturn, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L09205, doi: 10.1029/2010GL043188.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Detection of visible lightning on Saturn
- Creators
- U. A. Dyudina - California Institute of TechnologyA. P. Ingersoll - California Institute of TechnologyS. P. Ewald - California Institute of TechnologyC. C. Porco - Space Science InstituteG. Fischer - Space Research InstituteW. S. Kurth - University of IowaR. A. West - California Institute of Technology
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Geophysical research letters, Vol.37(9), L09205
- DOI
- 10.1029/2010GL043188
- ISSN
- 0094-8276
- eISSN
- 1944-8007
- Publisher
- Amer Geophysical Union
- Number of pages
- 5
- Grant note
- P21295-N16 / Austrian Science Fund; Austrian Science Fund (FWF) NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2010
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984455753802771
Metrics
9 Record Views