First 3D View of Jupiter's Atmosphere Shows the Great Red Spot is Deeper Than Expected, NASA's Juno Reveals

NASA's Juno probe that has been orbiting Jupiter for some time has sent the first 3D view of the giant planet's atmosphere, showing its colorful and distinctive features that offer clues about the unseen processes below its clouds. Their findings highlight the inner workings of the clouds encircling the planet, their polar cyclones, and the Great Red Spot.

They published several studies of their discovery in Juno's atmospheric characteristics in the journal Science, the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, and two recent issues of Geophysical Research Letters.

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First 3D View of Jupiter's Atmosphere Shows the Great Red Spot is Deeper Than Expected, NASA's Juno Reveals

Juno Probe Measures Depth of the Great Red Spot

According to CNN, scientists believed that the Great Red Spot was a storm shaped as flat as a pancake. They knew that it had been moving for a very long time, although not their exact depth.

Then in July 2019, NASA's Juno probe flew directly over the Great Red Spot to measure how deep the vortex extends beneath the clouds. They theorized that the depth of the Great Red Spot and the planet's weather is constrained to the cloud's level where sunlight can penetrate and water and ammonia condense.

However, scientists found that it was not that shallow. Using Juno's microwave radiometer, scientists could get a 3D look at the planet and discover that the Great Red Spot measures 186 miles (300 kilometers) to 310 miles (500 kilometers) deep, which extends deeper into the gas giant than previously thought.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory research scientist Marzia Parisi said that the Great Red Spot is as deep as the International Space Station is high above Earth. But scientists said it is still considered shallow compared to the zonal jets that power the storm, which extends to a depth of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers).

More than the depth of the Great Red Spot, Popular Science reported that the microwave instrument of NASA's Juno was also able to detect the composition and temperature of different layers, as well as the density of the storm and gravity signal.

Scientists said that determining the depth of the storm is an exciting discovery because humans have moved past from the era of detecting the Great Red Spot to understanding why it is there and answering the fundamental questions of its intensity and why it has lasted for so long.

ALSO READ: Jupiter's Polar Storms Do Not Go Away Unlike Its Earthly Variety, Study Found

Polar Storms in Jupiter

According to Phys.org, Juno first discovered eight cyclones in Jupiter's north pole arranged in an octagonal pattern and five cyclones in the south pole in a pentagonal pattern when it first entered the giant planet's orbit in 2016.

Five years later, scientists using the observations from the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) found that these atmospheric phenomena are extremely resilient and remain in the same location.

Juno co-investigator Alessandro Mura explained that the cyclones have been affecting each other's motion, causing them to oscillate at an equilibrium position, which suggests that they have deep roots.

The data from JIRAM also indicates that cyclones in Jupiter were like hurricanes on Earth that move poleward, but those at the center of each pole push them back. Scientists noted that this explains where cyclones are located and why there are different numbers in each pole.