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Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is Shrinking
cjstaples noted a CNN story proclaiming that
Jupiter's signature red spot is shrinking. Over a 10 year study, the giant storm lost just over half a kilometer per day for a total loss of about 15%. Scientists know about shrinkage, right?
Here I was ready to make some crack about how global warming is causing jupiter's red spot to shrink and this shows that the sun is having some other effect, and there it is in the tags:
"globalwarming manbearpig globalshrinking...."
totally burst my bubble, stole my thunder... I might actually have to do some work.
This is my sig.
Scientists know about shrinkage, right?
Let me just point out that it's very cold in space. Even with the sun nearby, I think we'd all experience at least a little bit of shrinkage if we were in Jupiter's position and it's not fair for the other planets to laugh at him.
My work here is dung.
Perfect time to send some spam to Jupiter.
Somewhere on Jupiter...
"Welp, reckon that storm front's finally breakin' up, Edgar."
"Ayup. Haven't seen a storm like that since the hundred-fifty-year* one back up near the poles."
"Yup, yup, that one had the cattle all rustled up somethin' fierce."
"Reckon y'don't see storms like that any more."
For some reason, this entire story strikes me as just realizing that Jupiter has weather systems. They just might be longer than Earth ones.
*: Jupiter years.
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
Please tell me there will be a 2010 joke in here somewhere...don't dissapoint me moviegeeks!
It's not getting blacker by chance is it?
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
It's a fricking storm. It's subject to entropy like everything else. Eventually, it will go away.
It's the scale that's messing with your head. That storm is about the same diameter as the entire Earth. It only seems permanent because it's so big that change happens slowly.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I think it's fair to point out to everyone that even on an untouched planet, major changes can happen. It's the nature of planets.
I'm not saying humans aren't causing changes on earth, because, well, they ARE. But this just goes to show that even if we don't do anything to influence change, it still happens.
Change isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just something that happens. Sometimes it happens and it's bad for our type of life and that sucks.
Every now and again, I get this feeling that the masses don't understand that planets evolve, even on their own. If humans never came to be, the earth would still be changing on it's own.
Well, it is reasonable to look to other planets for comparison when events happen on a planetary scale.
However, looking at a gas giant is a bit of a stretch. There are basically no points of congruence between a supermassive ball of gaseous, liquid, and metallic hydrogen, and a tiny ball of rock with a thin scrim of water on the top.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
..we need to make sure we stay away from Europa
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
Yes. And, so?
If humans are accelerating the change in equilibrium conditions on Earth, that is against our own interests, as we are adapted to current conditions. We should, in that case, be interested in how to stop doing that.
On the other hand, if the equilibrum conditions on Earth are changing naturally, then allowing that to happen unchecked is against our interests, as we are adapted to current conditions. We should, in that case, be interested in how to slow those naturally-occuring changes.
Let me be the first to say that the Great Red Spot is too big to fail!
We should see if we can get the Russians to take US scientists along on a ship next year to investigate.
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
Storms are created by temperatures differences, which are in turn created by sunlight warming different areas at different rates. So yes, the same kinds of things will happen on Jupiter, if nothing else based on the temperature difference from the day to the night side. The real question is, why has the Red Spot been so stable for so long?
Think about it; surface features shouldn't effect warming rates since all solar radiation is absorbed long before it gets to the surface. Pockets of atmosphere will absorb heat at different rates, but those pockets aren't stationary. That leaves complex, self-correcting fluid dynamics or massive surface features that significantly change the wind patterns hundreds or thousands of miles up or something we just don't understand yet. All of which are pretty interesting.
You are overlooking one important energy source: Jupiter itself. Because of ongoing differentiation, Jupiter produces about twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun. Given this and the fact that this source is coming from below rather than above, it is likely the more important contribution to the dynamics of the atmosphere.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
No the red spot is shrinking due to wind cut backs.
The word you were looking for is "anthropogenic".
Both of these problems will kill people. Which is what makes evolution work.
So isn't this a good thing ? It improves humanity in the "natural" way. Natural is, like, always good man !
(and for a serious reply : the entirety of Holland has an average height of MINUS 2 meters, so there will be exactly 0 things happening, you also pass by on the fact that all of the following 3 problems will become critical long before any noticeable sea level rise occurs : oil (and energy) shortage, water shortage, food shortage due to overpopulation. Global warming is not a crisis. It's not, by a long shot, the first thing that will kill anyone. Overpopulation is already killing millions today (but not quite enough to prevent further population rise). And this is also assuming that none of the destructive ideologies like islam, dictatorships, socialism, ... make a comeback. All of them, of course, seem to be working on a comeback. If we are to live in peace, they need to be stopped).