GRS - A Monster Hurricane in Solar System

We might have seen many videos of winds ripping away houses, apartments, waging through fields, water bodies and everything that gets into its gruffly path. A hurricane (a.k.a cyclone or typhoon) is a very large,swirling storm with strong winds and heavy rains. It consists of an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. A hurricane is completely different from a tornado.

A satellite snap of a hurricane 

We know that hurricanes shows its presence on earth. But have you ever thought the existence of hurricanes on other planets in our solar system? Probably not, not even me. Even planets like Saturn, Mars, Jupiter have biggest hurricanes. But the one that we talk about today, is the biggest of all the hurricane ever seen.

GREAT RED SPOT (GRS)

The Great Red Spot (Small and big)

  Yes. It's Great Red Spot(GRS) a monster hurricane on the planet Jupiter. One can never even presume its  age and size. Its size is really huge enough to gobble up anything. The usual diameter of the hurricanes on earth is about 1000 to 1500km. The biggest diameter of hurricane recorded(on earth) is 1520km in the year 2012. But the same on Jupiter is whopping 24–40,000 km east-to-west and 12–14,000 km north-to-south. This diameter is equal to three to four Earths diameter summed up! As the distances vary at different directions, the hurricane is oval in shape. But comparing the magnitude of speeds, these monster hurricanes doesn't stand as a king. Its speeds range from 430 to 600 kmph at the peaks, where as on earth it varies from 120 to 300kmph. (Max. recorded 305kmph in 1980). A clear observation, shows Jupiter having more than two small hurricanes persisting since years.

Persistence and Lifetime

The main feature that makes this hurricane a very special is its long existence. It is said to exist since about 300-400 years!!! It was once called "The permanent spot" by ancient astronomers. These hurricanes rotate in anti-clockwise direction with a period of 6 Earth days. As the time goes by, its strength, also the diameter keeps degrading. The below figure shows the rate of decrease in the diameter.

Relative sizes of GRS in years