Jupiter’s Turbulent Storms Echo Earth’s Seas: Unveiling The Cosmic Connection

The most recent study is spearheaded by Lia Siegelman, a physical oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. According to the researchers, their analysis indicates that the filaments exhibit dynamic activity.

Earth’s Oceans And Jupiter’s Atmosphere Share Similar Traits

In 2018 Siegelman in her study spoke about the similarity between the two planets while making a conjecture about it. She underscores the striking similarity between the storms on Jupiter and the Ocean turbulence on Earth that she was studying, as per a report by phys.org.

She iterated that air and water both are considered fluidic mixtures to a physicist and thus she applied the the mechanics of the Oceans to Jupiter’s atmosphere. “Jupiter is basically an ocean of gas,” she said as quoted.

In 2022, an initial observation, in which Siegelman served as a co-author, was published in Nature Physics. This study scrutinized high-resolution infrared images of Jupiter’s cyclones captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. While the primary focus of the earlier research was on Jupiter’s cyclones, Siegelman noticed wispy tendrils, termed filaments, amidst the gaseous vortices. Intrigued, Siegelman pursued a follow-up study using Juno’s detailed imagery to delve into their connection to cyclones on Earth.

The latest study reveals that these filaments bear resemblance to what oceanographers and meteorologists identify as fronts—boundaries delineating gas or liquid masses with distinct densities attributable to variations in characteristics like temperature.