CONVECTIVE BURSTS AND THE COUPLING OF SATURN'S EQUATORIAL STORMS AND INTERIOR ROTATION

Abstract

Temporal variations of Saturn's equatorial jet and magnetic field hint at rich dynamics coupling the atmosphere and the deep interior. However, it has been assumed that rotation of the interior dynamo must be steady over tens of years of modern observations. Here we use a numerical convection model and scaling estimates to show how equatorial convective bursts can transfer angular momentum to the deeper interior. The numerical model allows angular momentum transfer between a fluid outer spherical shell and a rigid inner sphere. Convection drives a prograde equatorial jet exhibiting quasiperiodic bursts that fill the equatorial volume outside the tangent cylinder. For each burst strong changes in the equatorial surface velocity are associated with retrograde torque on the inner sphere. Our results suggest that Saturn's Great White Spot, a giant storm that was observed to fill the equatorial region in 1990, could mobilize a volume of fluid carrying roughly 15% of Saturn's moment of inertia. Conservation of angular momentum then implies that a 20% change in the equatorial jet angular velocity could change the average interior rotation rate by about 0.1%-roughly an order of magnitude less than the apparent rotation rate changes associated with Saturn's kilometric radio (SKR) signal. However,more » if the SKR signal originates outside the liquid metal core in a 'planetary tachocline' that separates the layer of fast zonal flow from the magnetically controlled and slowly convecting deep interior, then convective bursts can provide a possible mechanism for the observed {approx}1% SKR changes.« less