# What is the great red spot of Jupiter and how has it persisted for so long?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-great-red-spot-of-jupiter-and-how-has-it-persisted-for-so-long/147720>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 10, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-great-red-spot-of-jupiter-and-how-has-it-persisted-for-so-long/147720 "2003-01-10T11:56:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-great-red-spot-of-jupiter-and-how-has-it-persisted-for-so-long/147720/1 "2003-01-10T11:56:45Z")

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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).

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**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-great-red-spot-of-jupiter-and-how-has-it-persisted-for-so-long/147720/2 "2003-01-10T12:16:22Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![samboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@samboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samboy)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-great-red-spot-of-jupiter-and-how-has-it-persisted-for-so-long/147720/3 "2003-01-10T12:16:45Z")

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lack of phisohex?

(sorry)

Its just a massive storm.

from [http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/jupiter/redspot.html](http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/jupiter/redspot.html) (first google)

> [@](#):
>
> it is enormous (three Earths would fit within its boundaries) and it has persisted for at least the 400 years that humans have observed it through telescopes

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**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-great-red-spot-of-jupiter-and-how-has-it-persisted-for-so-long/147720/4 "2003-01-10T12:19:57Z")

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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.