While research suggests that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot should have disappeared by now due to fluid dynamics, a new study has proposed why the spot still exists.
Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley built a three dimensional and high-resolution model of Jupiter focusing on the vertical winds, which are a key reason for the spot’s persistence.
The study found that as the spot, a type of vortex, loses energy, the vertical winds transport hot gas from above and cold gases from below the vortex to its centre. This restores the lost part of energy and thus maintains Jupiter’s spot.
Read more at Harvard University; University of California, Berkeley