Is the ‘great red spot’ on Jupiter nothing more than a very persistent weather system or is it believed to be linked to some sort of surface feature or phenomenon? (if indeed Jupiter has anything that could properly be called a surface).
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a cold, high pressure area more than twice as wide as planet Earth. so yes, it appears to be a weather system.
Why it has persisted so long, I’ll leave for someone more authoritative.
lack of phisohex?
(sorry)
Its just a massive storm.
from http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/jupiter/redspot.html (first google)
OK, so I won’t wait.
Part of the reason it lasts so long in comparison with Earth storms (other than the huge difference in scale and the existence of an internal heat source on Jupiter) is that this storm never goes over land; on Earth, hurricanes loses most of their energy and die when they stray over land.