Jupiter's Great Red Spot: compactness condition and stability

• Main Authors: J.-I. Yano, G. R. Flierl
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 1994-01-01
• Series: Annales Geophysicae
• Online Access: https://www.ann-geophys.net/12/1/1994/angeo-12-1-1994.pdf

Linear Rossby wave dispersion relationships suggest that Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) is a baroclinic structure embedded in a barotropic shearing zonal flow. Quasi-geostrophic (QG) two-layer simulations support the theory, as long as an infinitely deep zonal flow is assumed. However, once a finite depth of the lower layer is assumed, a self-interaction of the baroclinic eddy component produces a barotropic radiating field, so that the GRS-like eddy can no longer remain compact. Compactness is recovered by explicitly introducing a deep dynamics of the interior for the lower layer, instead of the <i>shallow</i> QG formulation. An implication of the result is a strong coupling of the GRS to a convectively active interior.