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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Simulation of the Planetary Interior Differentiation Processes in the Laboratory
Published on: November 16, 2013
Temperatures, winds, and composition in the saturnian system
F M Flasar1, R K Achterberg, B J Conrath
1National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 693, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. f.m.flasar@nasa.gov
Abstract:
Stratospheric temperatures on Saturn imply a strong decay of the equatorial winds with altitude. If the decrease in winds reported from recent Hubble Space Telescope images is not a temporal change, then the features tracked must have been at least 130 kilometers higher than in earlier studies. Saturn's south polar stratosphere is warmer than predicted from simple radiative models. The C/H ratio on Saturn is seven times solar, twice Jupiter's. Saturn's ring temperatures have radial variations down to the smallest scale resolved (100 kilometers). Diurnal surface temperature variations on Phoebe suggest a more porous regolith than on the jovian satellites.
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