This is a drawing depicting the motions in earth's atmosphere.
Click on image for full size
Image from: Random House Atlas
Motions in Saturn's Interior
Motions in the interior of a planet help carry heat from the inside to the outside.
The drawing to the left illustrates a kind of global motion that is typical of motions in the atmosphere as well as interior of a planet. Material rises from where it is warmest, and moves in a roiling motion like the boiling of a pot. In the drawing, there are three different cells of activity in the atmosphere where the air turns over (depicted by red sheets).
In the interior of Saturn, the liquid layers are warm enough to move in this fashion. Some scientists think, however, that the heat from within Saturn causes different sorts of motions.
In any case, the enormous magnetosphere of Saturn is produced by motions in the liquid metallic hydrogen layer inside Saturn.
You might also be interested in:
Saturn's magnetosphere is not as big as Jupiter's, but it is still pretty big. It is big enough to hold all of Saturn's moons. It is probably made the same way as is Jupiter's, which affects its overall
...moreThe first liquid layer inside Saturn, right under the atmosphere, is the liquid hydrogen layer. The hydrogen atmosphere becomes thicker and thicker, like a dense fog, with more and more liquid droplets,
...moreThe Giant planets do not have the same layered structure that the terrestrial planets do. Their evolution was quite different than that of the terrestrial planets, and they have less solid material. Saturn's
...moreThere is no surface to the giant planets, only a gradual change from the atmosphere, as shown in this drawing. The gases which Saturn is mostly made of change to liquid inside Saturn, but the change is
...moreThe most important motions in the atmosphere are winds. The major winds in Saturn's atmosphere are the zonal winds which are made of zones and belts. Zones are high pressure systems and belts are low pressure
...more The striped cloud bands on Saturn, like Jupiter, are divided into belts and zones. In a belt, the wind flows very strongly in one direction only. In a zone, the wind flows very strongly in exactly the
...moreThe position of the planets in the solar nebula greatly affected their 1. size and 2. composition. This is because of the effect of how cold it was in the nebula. 1. The nebula was a lot warmer close to
...more