ABSTRACT

The depths of Saturn below the ubiquitous covering of ammonia hazes have been revealed in detail by the
Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard the Cassini orbiter. Using Saturn?s own indigenous
glow produced by warm air at depth to back-light deep clouds, a menagerie of rather bizarre cloud features
have been discovered near the 3-bar level, some 75 km underneath the ammonia clouds. Likely comprised of
ammonia hydrosulfide, perhaps with a complement of water, the diverse array of cloud features - including
dozens of surprisingly narrow axisymmetric "zones", "smoke rings", a long-lived "string of pearls"
spanning 1/4 of the planet, large plume-like and cyclonic features, and a deep-seated hexagonal feature
circumscribing the north pole - reveal Saturn at depth to be a dynamic, meteorologically active planet
much more like frenetic Jupiter than the classically serene face Saturn shows in sunlight. Detailed images,
movies, and spectra of unexpected trace gases, all revealing the true dynamic character of Saturn at
depth, will be shown and discussed.