Couldn't resist some interpretation/speculation:

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Will they or have they changed any future observing sequences to get a better look at the storm?

Latest colour view and video:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suWzhUjvvgk

Nice video!!

Grrr... now I have to make my own version of that

The site for the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory has upgraded to a new server.

The new site is: http://www.pvol.ehu.es/pvol/index.jsp?action=iopw

Updated spreadsheet for viewing Saturn's storm from Earth. The time is when the W edge of the storm cloud is at the center point on Saturn's disk as seen from Earth.

Spreadsheet good to Feb 28,2011. (Validated using observations from Dec. 14, 2010 to Jan 16, 2011).

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I posted a detailed graphic comparing features of Jupiter's Great Red Spot to those of Saturns North Temperate Storm 2010: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/5385677331/

Animation of Earth-based telescope images of Saturn's storm from December 14, 2010 to January 24, 2011:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/...in/photostream/

It looks as if Saturn may gain a temporary white band around the planet if the storm continues to expand. Should be very interesting to see the next images of this storm up close from Cassini.

^
That seems to be the pattern: white spots blowing up, and fairly quickly spreading out into a latitudinal zone until it eventually loses its identity.

So, exactly what kind of storm is this? Is this a massive thunderstorm complex? It would be interesting to really get down to what this is, specifically. If the original spot is a massive collection of thunderclouds, does this mean that they spread out to create a band around the planet?

I think there is a massive anticyclonic upwelling from a lower layer, and the white stuff is just the upper level turbulence and shear between belts and zones are making high clouds that are extending and encircling the planet.

Unless the upwelling is able to self-sustain, it'll eventually run out of steam (probably literally!) and the upper clouds will dissipate.

I may be wrong, but I think of this as a hurricane sucking in energy at a lower warmer level (where there is a cyclonic flow we can't observe), then moving it up the central column, where it pushes outwards at the lower cooler level. The whole thing driven by the upper and lower level temperature differential and the transfer of energy via condensation of ....water? ammonia?.

That's my guess...

I emailed Carolyn Porco to find out if they were going to investigate lightning flashes within that storm, and I was told they would attempt it. I wonder if it would be possible to check for lightning flashes from the night side of Saturn. Because...if this is an upwelling of thunderstorms, I'd imagine there would be some intense lightning there.

They "hear" lighting with the radio science instrument, if I recall correctly. As stated earlier, seeing it's a lot tougher with a still camera that they generally point at the daylight side of the planet.

The RPWS can "listen" for electrical discharges from lightning in the storm, but actually looking for lightning on Saturn on the planet's nightside requires dedicated observations that are planned 6-12 months in advance. Another issue to keep in mind is that the northern hemisphere is currently being illuminated by Saturn's rings, which can complicate lightning detection.

And even the southern hemisphere is somewhat illuminated by forward-scattered light from the rings. (Though maybe it's no worse than night time on Earth illuminated by a full moon - I've never researched it.)

It appears the storm now has a ghostly neighbour: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...6/W00066521.jpg

Here's a faux-colour version (CB-GRN-BLU), rotated so that north is at the 11 o'clock position:

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Animated blink between Jan 15th and February 4 images in false color [MT3,MT2,CB2]:

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I think the "ghost" is a vortex riding the wake of the western edge of the storm front.

No, that's the same storm. It has just now met its tail.

Whoo-woo! All aboard the storm train! Here's a non-time sequenced animation of the storm, ordered by faked Saturn rotation:

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[Animated GIF - click to animate]

Sequence of images is 1/12, 2/4, 1/15, 1/15.

Wow. Damn.

Times like this I remember how back in the day the meme was that the outer Solar System was presumed to be nearly static for lack of solar energy...man, talk about a swing & a miss in SO many, many ways that we know about already, and probably a lot more that we don't know yet!

Are they going to get any high resolution images of it?

Wow!!!

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=233338

Lots of high resolution IR images down on the Cassini raws page.

Quick stitch of 21 images. There's a whole lot more images in this sequence if some brave soul wants to make it
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Wow... we've had MER Monopoly...

I think we just saw the first CASSINI Jigsaw...

Note to all: I had the idea first, and I'm in the middle of watching THE SOCIAL NETWORK, so no-one get any ideas about suing me in years to come, ok?

Comparison graphic showing similarities/differences between the Jan 12 and Feb 23 Saturn storm observation:
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Full resolution WAC MethanoVision RGB [Mt3, MT2, CB2] of the Feb 23 observation is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/5478172432/

Just got back from London: drooled over Charlie Brown (not literally), gawped at Ralph's penetrometer -- and even touched a chunk of the Titanic's hull!

Oh, and here's a quick RGB composite from this latest, bountiful, batch of raws:

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And that's the flight model. The flight-spare is sat on Titan

Or embedded in Titan, I suppose!

...and here's RGB storm composite number two:

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Saturn RGB[RED,GRN, BL1] composite Feb 25, 2011. Details enhanced with a HiPass filtered overlay of the CB2 IRP90 image:

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Composite of images in the CB2 IR band taken from Feb 23-25, 2011 coordinated and stacked to show the full length and features of the massive storm:

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In terms of scale how does this storm compare to those that have previously appeared?

Nice work Mike!

Here's a false-colour NAC view of the head of the storm (MT2/CB2/BL1):

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Another WAC, RGB view, with one of the moons (Enceladus?) just lurking below the left ansae:

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Are the clouds in the storm moving fast enough to cause some motion blur in the images?

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=234025

If you take a look at that image, the cloud features on the left have sharp boundaries, the clouds in the storm look very soft - like motion blur?

Prequel to my last post:

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It sure *looks* like motion blur, but I don't think the numbers work out. The resolution of that image is about 20 km/pixel, and typical Cassini ISS exposure times for sunlit objects are maybe 1/100th to 1/10th of a second. So to get a couple of pixels of blur would require cloud speeds of 400 - 4000 kilometers/second- the clouds would exceed escape velocity.

John

CB2 frames are 3.2 seconds exposures. MT frames are longer IIRC.

Random question: But why are the MT3 images usually smaller?

To improve signal to noise. Not a lot of reflected light at that wavelength.

RGB[MT3,MT2,CB2] composite of 18 contrast-adjusted images from the NAC view of the storm complex.

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Full resolution (and there is lots of neat swirly detail) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/5488190012/

^ Oh that's a work of art!

Beautiful.

Mea culpa! Still, for 4 second exposures you'd need 10 km/sec (22,000 mph) winds to blur by a couple of pixels, so I think we still have to conclude that the storm clouds are intrinsically "blurry"- overlying high cirrus, maybe?

John

"Oh that's a work of art!"

Impressionism?
Simply fantastic, I want this "painting" on the wall!

Ditto!
I'd love to sneak it onto the wall, unlabeled, at MOMA, and overhear it being discussed by the art crowd.

Just for fun
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Gorgeous! I started making that myself but halfway along the strip I was getting one of those headaches you get after eating ice cream too quickly...

Thanks Astro0! I was hoping somebody would put together a panoramic view of the storm from Cassini's recent images