Abstract
The size determination of dynamical structures from spectral images poses the question where to fix the shape’s boundary. Here, we propose a method, suitable for nearly elliptical shape, based on the fit of a 2D Gaussian to the pixel intensities of the spectral image. This method has been tested on a vortex structure embedded in the wake of the 2010 Saturn’s giant storm. On January 4th 2012, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), onboard Cassini, observed a giant vortex in the Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The structure was embedded in the wake storm system detected on December 2010 by Fletcher et al. [1]. Therefore, all the VIMS observations focused on the Saturn’s storm have been analyzed to investigate its morphology and development. VIMS detected the vortex from May 2011up to January 2012. The evolution of shape and size has been determined for the vortex cloud top, visible at 890 nm. The largest size resulted 4000 km about and seemed to shrinks continuously up to January 2012, while the shape varied in the second half of the year. The vortex oscillated in 2 degrees latitude around 37°N planetocentric latitude, and drifted in longitude by ~0.75 deg/day in westward direction.
Highlights
IntroductionHow to cite this paper: Moriconi, M.L., Adriani, A., D’Aversa, E., Liberti, G.L., Filacchione, G. and Oliva, F. (2016) Unbiased Estimations of Atmosphere Vortices: The Saturn’s Storm by Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS)-V as Case Study
Sunlight passing through the atmosphere is scattered and absorbed by gases and aerosols to produce the charac-How to cite this paper: Moriconi, M.L., Adriani, A., D’Aversa, E., Liberti, G.L., Filacchione, G. and Oliva, F. (2016) Unbiased Estimations of Atmosphere Vortices: The Saturn’s Storm by Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS)-V as Case Study
Though this technique could be applied to any planetary cloud system, it has been setup aiming to infer the evolution of a particular vortex observed on Saturn in occasion of a giant storm sprouted at the end of 2010
Summary
How to cite this paper: Moriconi, M.L., Adriani, A., D’Aversa, E., Liberti, G.L., Filacchione, G. and Oliva, F. (2016) Unbiased Estimations of Atmosphere Vortices: The Saturn’s Storm by Cassini VIMS-V as Case Study. Light at certain frequencies interacts with the gaseous molecules and aerosols more effectively than at others; the depth to which light effectively penetrates and escapes the atmosphere is a function of wavelength By using this wavelength dependence, it is possible to image clouds at different altitudes. We propose a method suitable to estimate clouds quite elliptically shaped Though this technique could be applied to any planetary cloud system, it has been setup aiming to infer the evolution of a particular vortex observed on Saturn in occasion of a giant storm sprouted at the end of 2010. The instruments cover the UV (only ISS), the visible (VIS) and the Near Infra Red (NIR) spectral ranges They observed the giant storm on Saturn during its whole life cycle, with some regularity.
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