Jupiter and Saturn may appear to be spinning and whirling, but they are stormy storms that are literally and otherwise out of this world. Nothing like this happens on earth.
Fierce storms on these gas giants were thought to have originated from the atmosphere below, as they have on our planet to this day. New research suggests that these unpredictable hurricanes may be driven by deeper internal forces rather than external forces that trigger storms above the Earth’s surface. Similarities between Jupiter and Saturn have shown that their weather systems, ranging from cyclones and anticyclones to jets and magnetic plumes, are largely due to violent internal processes.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, an internal phenomenon that produces the planet’s magnetic field – is believed to have set in high-pressure areas, such as sinking air and forming a form of clouds or rain, is an unusual phenomenon.
“By modeling the dominant dynamic features located on the surface of Jupiter and Saturn, i.e., regional jet currents and storms / vertices, we can learn about what drives them and their connection with the interior of the planets,” said Rakesh Kumar Yadav, leader. A recently published study Science progress.
Jupiter and Saturn are seeing more storms than the Great Red Spot and Saturn’s hexagonal hurricane, which has received the most attention. One last thing before Cassini disappeared forever into Saturn’s atmosphere was gravitational data, and that, along with data from the Juno mission, helped Yadav’s team determine that jet streams from both planets landed thousands of miles deep. This raises the question of whether there are some storm surges that can be seen on these planets by hurricanes coming to the bottom of the earth.
To find out how hurricanes are possible in the gut of these planets, the research team called them “thin shell” and “thick shell” simulations. Both of these approaches went beyond assuming that weather systems would emerge. Each type of simulation has a factor in fast convection that causes turbulence in the planet-shaped spherical shell that was programmed to rotate in the same way as the planets they were simulating.
On these gas giants, as the compound is on Earth it heats up, less gas gas rises and cold, cold gas sinks. Although only gas is involved here, it can be technically with any liquid, or substance that can flow and change shape when it acts to change the force on it.
What was going on in the convection layers in the atmosphere above Jupiter and Saturn was investigated by a thin shell case. A turbulence occurs between the black atmospheric band or belt, in which the cooling gas is sinking, and the lighter band, known as the zone, where the hot gas is rising. The “thin shell” simulation produces cyclones, giving birth to anticlones such as the Great Red Spot, and the zones and belts on gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn are also known as zonal jets.
Now for really heavy stuff. The planet’s dynamo produces its magnetic field from within. Earth’s dynamo is a liquid iron constantly flowing in the outer core (outside the inner core of solid iron), and electrons flow with it, and that energy enters the morph magnetic field. That is why planets with magnetic fields are believed to have metal cores. The “thick shell” simulation recreates the hydrodynamic layers of gas giants, which behave like liquids, in contact with their magnetic fields. This caused him to vomit plums in space due to the deep enrichment inside the magnetic field. Where there was more magnetic energy, there were more anticyclones.
There are some differences between the planets. Saturn has a dangerous atmosphere, so the liquid dynamics behind its hurricanes are more similar to each other than to Jupiter. This may be because the atmosphere makes it difficult to determine whether the gases are moving around. Not many anticlones seem to be on Saturn.
The next time you look at the hypnotic vortex of Saturn and Jupiter, remember that behind the beauty, there is an animal.
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