Evidence for Gravity Waves in the Thermosphere of Saturn and Implications for Global Circulation

Temperature profiles were derived from Cassini Grand Finale stellar occultation measurements originally reported in "A Pole-to-Pole Pressure-Temperature Map of Saturn's Thermosphere from Cassini Grand Finale Data" from Brown et al. (2020). Because gravity waves are disturbances superimposed on the mean flow/state, the vertical temperature profiles T(z) have been separated into the mean temperature and wave-induced perturbations, T′=T−<T>, where <T> denotes averaging over temporal and spatial scales much larger than wave phases.

The difference between the local and mean temperature (T') gives wave amplitudes, from which energy, momentum fluxes and forcing imposed on the mean flow can be derived. See Brown et al. (2022) for details, including observation latitudes (Supporting Information Table S1).