Saturn's zonal wind profile in 2004-2009 - Certified

Five years of Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) data were utilized to generate zonal wind profiles. These data span a portion of Saturn’s year, from 2 years after Saturn’s northern hemisphere winter solstice to close to its northern spring equinox.

In an effort to obtain information concerning altitude dependence of the zonal winds, two filters that transmitted at wavelengths where methane is a strong (MT3, 890 nm) and intermediate (MT2, 727 nm) absorber were partnered with filters nested in nearby continuum (CB3, 939 and CB2, 752 nm). Approximately 300 Narrow and Wide-angle images were used with resolutions ranging from 160 km/pix to 30 km/pix.

Cassini images used to retrieve Saturn zonal winds.

Filters	Date interval	Number of Images	Resolution (km pix_1)	Subsolar latitude
CB2, MT1, MT2	2004/09/06-2004/09/13	64	60	-23.9
CB2, MT3	2005/02/25-2005/02/27	51	160	-22.5
CB2, MT3	2005/02/27	15	160	-22.5
CB2, MT2	2005/06/15-2005/06/16	54	140	-21.4
CB2, MT2	2006/10/11	9	30	-15.4
CB2, MT2, CB3, MT3	2008/02/25-2008/02/27	40	90	-8.1
CB2, MT3	2008/03/29	24	80	-7.7
CB2, MT2, CB3, MT3	2008/06/19-2008/06/20	24	70	-6.4
CB2	2008/11/29-2008/12/01	7	40	-3.9
CB2, MT2, CB3, MT3	2008/12/28	16	60	-3.5
MT2, MT3	2009/01/01-2009/01/12	8	60	-3.5

The data consist of 2 profiles, a “methane” profile (combining MT2 and MT3 measurements) and a continuum profile (combining CB2 and CB3 measurements). The files consist of a label and a csv table listing planetocentric and planetographic latitudes, average zonal wind values, standard error and number of points in each average. See the Cassini ISS Help page for details concerning filters and calibration. Note especially the User’s Guide.

PDS4 Bundle

Data Description

Data

   Methane Profile (irzonal)

   Continuum Profile (contzonal)

Download Compressed bundle

Citing Datasets for Publications

E. García-Melendo, et al (2011), Saturn Zonal Wind bundle, NASA Planetary Data System, https://doi.org/10.17189/1518962.