What Happened to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot? The Solar System’s Largest Storm May Finally Disappear

Jupiter‘s Great Red Spot is a giant tidal wave that has existed for at least 190 years. Recent studies suggest that it is different from the region seen earlier, and simulations examine how Jupiter’s winds might have how did it form. GRS is in decline, and future research will focus on its sustainability and potential future fragmentation.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) stands out as one of the most unique features in the Solar System. This giant celestial body, now about the same diameter as Earth, is easily visible because of its striking red color, which contrasts sharply with Jupiter’s yellow clouds. Even small telescopes can capture its unique appearance. The GRS is a large anticyclonic storm, with winds reaching speeds of 450 km/h near its outer edges. It has the largest and longest-lasting atmosphere of any planet in our Solar System. However, the exact age of the GRS is still debated, and the mechanisms of its formation remain a mystery.

The hypothesis about the origin of the GRS dates back to the first telescopic observations made by the astronomer Giovanni Domenico. Cassiniwho in 1665 discovered a dark oval in the same area as the GRS and called it the ‘Permanent Spot’ (PS), as it was seen by him and other astronomers until 1713.

After that, its track was lost for 118 years and it was in 1831 and the following years that S. Schwabe again saw a clear shape, almost oval in shape and latitude same as GRS; which can be considered as the first observation of the current GRS, possibly of the emerging GRS. Since then, the GRS has been observed regularly by telescopes and by various spacecraft that have visited the planet to this day.

Analyzing the GRS Change

In the study, the authors began to examine the change in its size over time, its structure, and the movements of the two meteorological formations, the first of PS and GRS; to do so, they used historical sources dating back to the mid-17th century, shortly after the invention of the telescope.

“Based on the size and motion measurements, we found that there is a high probability that the current GRS was the PS observed by GD Cassini. The PS probably disappeared sometime between the 18th century and 19 years, where we can say that the longevity of the Red Spot now exceeds 190 years at least, “explained Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, professor of physics at UPV / EHU and who led this research. The Red Spot, which in 1879 was 39,000 kilometers across at its longest point, is shrinking to about 14,000 kilometers and is simultaneously around.

Recent Research and Simulation Studies

Moreover, since the 1970s several space missions have studied this weather phenomenon carefully. More recently, “various instruments aboard the Juno mission orbiting Jupiter have shown that the GRS is shallow and narrow compared to its horizontal surface, being 500 km long at the top, ” explained Sánchez-Lavega.

To find out how this large vortex could have formed, the UPV/EHU and UPC teams performed numerical simulations on Spanish supercomputers, such as BSC’s MareNostrum IV, which is part of the Spanish Supercomputing Network ( RES), use two complementary types. behavior of thin waves in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The main thing on this huge planet is the strong wind currents that flow according to the area where it is located and the latitude. To the north of the GRS, winds blow to the west at a speed of 180 km/h while to the south, they blow in the other direction, to the east, at a speed of 150 km/h. This creates a large north-south gradient in wind speed, which is the basic ingredient that enables fog to grow within it.

In the study, several mechanisms were examined to explain the genesis of the GRS, including the eruption of a superstorm, similar to the one rarely seen on the twin planet. Saturnor the combination of many small waves produced by an air barrier. The results show that, although the types of anticyclone in both cases, they are different in terms of shape and dynamic properties from that of the current GRS. “We also think that if one of these unusual events had occurred, it or its effects on the atmosphere must have been noticed and recorded by astronomers at the time,” said Sánchez -Lavega.

Statistical Comparisons and Future Research

In a third set of numerical experiments, the research team examined the generation of GRS from a known instability of the wind that is thought to be able to generate a long cell that closes and traps it. Such a cell would be a proto-GRS, the nascent Red Spot, whose subsequent contraction would produce the compact and rapidly rotating GRS seen in the late 19th century. The formation of large elongated cells has been observed in the genesis of other large vortices on Jupiter.

Enrique García-Melendo said: “In our simulations, the supercomputers helped us to find that the long cells are stable when they move around the periphery of the GRS at the speed of Jupiter’s wind, as can be expected when they form because of this uncertainty,” said Enrique García-Melendo. , researcher at UPC’s Physics Department. Using two different types of numerical models, one in UPV/EHU and one in UPC, the researchers concluded that if the rotation speed of the proto-GRS is lower than that of the winds surrounding, the proto-GRS will be destroyed. , making the formation of a stable vortex impossible. And, if it is very high, the properties of the proto-GRS are different from those of the current GRS.

Future research will aim to test and reproduce GRS contractions over time in order to determine, in detail, the physiological mechanisms that drive longevity. At the same time, it will try to predict whether the GRS will break up and disappear when it reaches the size limit, as is likely to happen in Cassini’s PS, or whether it will stabilize at that size. I can hold on to it for many more years. .

Origin: “The Origin of Jupiter’s Red Spot” by Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Enrique García-Melendo, Jon Legarreta, Arnau Miró, Manel Soria and Kevin Ahrens-Velásquez, 16 June 2024, Geophysical Research Letters.
DOI: 10.1029/2024GL108993