How Jupiter’s Great Red Spot shrinks: Mystery Revealed

The largest storm in our solar system, the Great Red Spot (GRS) on Jupiter, is getting smaller. Some scientists believe this change may be related to the lack of small storms that normally help keep the GRS running. The GRS is a very large high-pressure storm in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere that was first observed in the mid-17th century. In the late 19th century, systematic studies revealed how it changed all the time, leading to new ideas about its structure and dynamics.

Structure and dynamics of GRS

The GRS extends for about 16,000 km and has winds of up to 321 km/h. It descends about 250 km through Jupiter’s atmosphere, passing through cloud layers filled with ammonia. Scientists are trying to figure out why there has been a significant decline over the past 100 years.

Research and hypotheses

Caleb Keaveney, a Yale graduate student, suggested that the GRS could be affected by a reduction in small storms. His group used the Explicit Planetary Isentropic Coordinate (EPIC) model to simulate how GRS and several small storms interact with each other. He then compared the results of these simulations with those that did not include these smaller storms. Studies show that small storms are very important in keeping the GRS running and making it bigger. These smaller systems keep the storm the same size, but if they weren’t there, the storm could be as small as 2.6 Earth years.

Comparison with Earth’s climate systems

Similar long-lived high-pressure systems can be found on Earth. They are called “heat domes” and often violently change weather patterns. The study shows that interactions with weather phenomena in the region help both Earth’s heat domes and Jupiter’s GRS last longer. The shape of the GRS has changed, and its color has also changed, from mostly orange-red to pinkish-orange. This shows that solar radiation has given rise to complex chemical reactions. These color changes are caused by changes in the chemicals in the storm.

About the Great Red Spot

Huge, long-lasting storm: Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a giant storm, twice the size of Earth, that has persisted for more than 350 years. This high pressure system produces counterclockwise winds reaching speeds of up to 432 km/h (268 mph).

Red color and chemical reactions: The storm’s unique red color is likely caused by complex chemical processes involving ammonia and other compounds in Jupiter’s atmosphere. These reactions are what give the Great Red Spot its unique color, which is still being studied.

Observations and changes: Since the end of the 19th century, the Great Red Spot has been shrinking, but the reasons for this are still unclear. The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft took the first close-up photographs in 1979, providing detailed information about its unique dynamics and structure.

Source

Ivory Coast joins UN Water Convention as Tenth African Member