ELI5-Why does the storm on Jupiter never dissipate?
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It presumably will at some point, it just hasn’t yet in the several hundred years we’ve been able to observe it.
A look at what causes the red spot and the distinct coloured bands or jets to appear on Jupiter. Why the red spot has endured since first being observed by Cassini and how ammonia ice crystals alter the colours we see on Jupiter. – https://youtu.be/9xsz1IvAYh0
And in today’s weather we have a storm front approaching from the west that should last at least until 400 years from now, so close those windows and bring your pets in tonight, over to you Phil for today’s traffic report
Think about storms on Earth.
Small clouds come and go in hours. Small storms might last a few days. Hurricanes can last a month or more as they grow, then dissipate. Bigger storms last longer – a lot longer.
The Great Red Spot is 1.3 times the diameter of Earth.
Think about how far Earth hurricanes can travel over water compared with how quickly they weaken over land. Without the ocean to power and replenish them, hurricanes eventually burn themselves out. There’s no Florida on Jupiter to cut the GRS off from its fuel. Without landmasses to break storms, storms can stick around a lot longer in gas giants than on terrestrial worlds like Earth.
Also, the GRS can eat other spots. There was a baby red spot and it just gobbled it up. It’s unclear what effect “feeding” the GRS has had on keeping it alive, but that definitely happens.
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