Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/ Gerald Eichstädt /Seán Doran © CC NC SAHey Jupiter
It would appear that reports of the death of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot have been exaggerated. After extensive computer simulation of the giant storm, Berkeley scientists say that it is not dying. The research, led by mechanical engineering professor Philip Marcus and graduate student Aidi Zhang with undergrad Finn Boire, refutes implications that either the observed shrinkage of the spot’s associated clouds or its recent, violent shedding of small, red “flakes” means that the underlying vortex is not healthy.
Topics: Mechanical engineering, Research