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:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

A Look at Saturn's Magnetosphere

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...more

The Liquid Hydrogen Layer

The 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,...more

An Overview of Saturn's Interior

The 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...more

The Structure of Saturn's Interior

There 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...more

An Overview of Motions in Saturn's Atmosphere

The 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

Saturn's Belts and Zones

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...more

The position of Saturn when gas changed to ice

The 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

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA