That’s a big eyeball iris JupiterAs they spin, they stare ominously into space. The largest, the Great Red Spot, The longest lasting storm Across the entire solar system.
Humans have observed it for centuries, and it is a huge high pressure area, slightly larger than the Earth, with maximum winds blowing counterclockwise. 680 kilometers (425 mph).
However, the raging Great Red Spot has diminished significantly since it was first clearly observed. Records from 1831The storms used to be bigger, but over time they have become smaller. And it’s decreasing even more.
Scientists now think they understand why: the Great Red Spot absorbs energy from other, smaller storms that merge with it. Without the smaller storms that it engulfs and subsumes, the Great Red Spot would not be able to maintain its enormous size.
“Over the past 200 years, many people have observed the Great Red Spot and been fascinated by it, just like me.” “It’s a very interesting story,” says astronomy doctor Caleb Keaveney. From Yale University.
“Through our numerical simulations, we find that we can modulate the size of the Great Red Spot by feeding it small storms, as is known to occur on Jupiter.”
In the late 19th century, the Great Red Spot was a staggering 39,000 kilometers wide. Today, it is just over a third wider, at 14,000 kilometers. 12,742 km The diameter still fits inside, but it’s getting narrower. I’ve never seen a Spot this (relatively) small.
Scientists have been investigating this strange phenomenon, and it is puzzling. Jupiter is very different from Earth, The weather gets worseBut despite these differences, fluids, such as gases in the atmosphere, behave in certain ways that can be studied using the mathematics of fluid dynamics.
While we can’t directly extrapolate Earth’s weather behavior to Jupiter, we can use our knowledge of Earth’s atmospheric processes to understand what’s going on there, which is what Keaveney and his colleagues have done.
We know, Studies published in 2021Researchers have suggested that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot effectively “devours” smaller storms it encounters, growing in the process, so they used a similar phenomenon observed on Earth to build a model of Jupiter’s atmosphere.
The jet stream that circulates through the Earth’s atmosphere Heat DomeWhere the jet stream slows down and stops, clouds called blocks can form. These blocks can play an important role in heat waves and droughts because they trap warm air temperatures below. Long-term.
The lifespan of these blocks is Associated with high pressure and other smaller-scale weather events. With this information, the researchers created a model of Jupiter’s atmosphere and the Great Red Spot, and simulated the interactions between the storms.
The researchers found that when smaller storms encountered the Great Red Spot, the previous storms either maintained their size or grew larger, compared to simulations without these interactions. And the more interactions there were, the stronger the Great Red Spot was maintained. Finally, the strength of the smaller storms also played a role: stronger storms gave the Great Red Spot a bigger boost.
There’s nothing we can do about the Great Red Spot — it’s on its way to Jupiter — and we’re just here to enjoy the show. But learning about its amazing atmosphere can help us better understand how Earth’s weather works, which is pretty cool.
“Our research has important implications for meteorological phenomena on Earth.” Keaveney says:.
“Interactions with nearby weather systems have been shown to maintain and amplify thermal domes, which sparked our hypothesis that similar interactions on Jupiter could maintain the Great Red Spot. Testing this hypothesis would further support this understanding of thermal domes on Earth.”
This study Icarus.
