Scientists discovered giant storms on the planet “Saturn”.. What is its story?

According to media reports, scientists recently discovered giant, elongated storms on Saturn that resemble Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, according to Russia Today.

Known as the largest storm in the solar system, the Great Red Spot is a 10,000-mile-wide tornado that has graced Jupiter’s surface for hundreds of years.

But Saturn also has long-lived giant storms with profound effects on the atmosphere that last for centuries, the new study suggests.

The study was conducted by astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who analyzed radio emissions from the planet’s surface and detected long-term disruptions in the supply of ammonia.

These giant storms occur on Saturn every 20 to 30 years and are similar to hurricanes on Earth, although much larger.

But unlike Earth’s hurricanes, no one knows why large storms form in Saturn’s atmosphere, which consists of hydrogen and helium with traces of methane, water and ammonia.

“Understanding the mechanisms of the Solar System’s largest storms puts hurricane theory in a broader cosmological context, challenges our current knowledge, and pushes the limits of terrestrial meteorology”.

Scientists used the ultra-large Carl G array in New Mexico to study radio emissions from deep within the planet.

Through radio observations, astronomers have been able to see beneath Saturn’s clouds and find evidence of giant storms in the midlatitudes and storms around the equator that last up to 100 years. They even discovered an unreported arctic storm that may be older.

“At radio wavelengths, we’re probing beneath the visible cloud layers on giant planets,” noted UC Berkeley professor of astronomy, Earth and planetary sciences MK de Pater, who has been studying gas giants for more than four decades to better understand them. What makes them unique. Because chemical interactions and dynamics change the composition of the planet’s atmosphere, observations below these cloud layers should constrain the composition of the planet’s actual atmosphere.”

As reported in the new study, UC Berkeley graduate student Chris Mockel and De Pater discovered something surprising in the radio emissions from the planet: anomalies in the concentration of ammonia in the atmosphere, which have been linked to earlier occurrences of massive storms in the Northern Hemisphere. to the planet.

These radio observations help scientists understand the true composition of Saturn’s atmosphere and shed light on various processes such as heat transfer, cloud formation, and convection. Recent observations reveal that a storm from 2010 split in two, moving in opposite directions and leaving a hole in Saturn’s atmosphere.

According to the team, ammonia concentrations are low at mid-altitude, and Saturn’s upper cloud layer consists mainly of ammonia ice clouds. But in their radio observations, the scientists found unexpectedly low concentrations of ammonia below this cloud layer in regions associated with ancient storms. Meanwhile, 100 to 200 km below these atmospheric regions, ammonia concentrations rose above normal. Scientists believe that ammonia is transported from the upper atmosphere to the lower atmosphere through precipitation and re-evaporation processes.

Also, this effect lasts for hundreds of years.

Comparing these storms to other giant planets in the Solar System, such as Neptune’s Great Black Spot and Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, highlights the stark difference between these planets and Earth.

Studying these giant storms provides valuable insights into the mechanisms of the largest storms in the Solar System and expands our knowledge of weather phenomena on Earth and beyond.