Abstract
Isolated large stable vortices have long been observed in the jovian atmosphere and more recently on Saturn. The existence of such stable vortices in strongly turbulent planetary atmospheres is a challenging problem in fluid mechanics. In a numerical simulation Marcus1 found that a single stable vortex developed for a wide variety of conditions in a turbulent shear flow in a rotating annulus. To test this we conducted an experiment on a rotating annulus filled with fluid pumped in the radial direction. The annulus rotates rigidly (there is no differential rotation), but the action of the Coriolis force on the radially pumped fluid produces a counter-rotating jet. Coherent vortices spontaneously form in this turbulent jet, and for a wide range of rotation and pumping rates the flow evolves until only one large vortex remains.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 52 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.83 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Marcus, P. S. Nature 331, 693β696 (1988).
Pedlosky, J. Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (Springer, New York, 1979).
Beebe, R. F. & Hockey, T. A. Icarus 67, 96β105 (1986).
MacLow, M. M. & Ingersoll, A. P. Icarus 65, 353β369 (1986).
Mitchell, J. L., Beebe, R. F., Ingersoll, A. P. & Garneau, G. W. J. geophys Res. 86, 8751β8757 (1981).
Williams, G. P. Adv. Geophys. 28A, 381β427 (1985).
Ingersoll, A. P. & Cuong P. G. J. atmos. Sci. 38, 2067β2076 (1981).
Hatzes, A., Wenkert, D. D., Ingersoll, A. P. & Danielson, G.E J. geophys. Res. 86, 8754β8749 (1981).
Flasar, F. M. Icarus 65, 280β303 (1986).
Colin de Verdier, A. Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn. 15, 213β251 (1980).
McEwan, A. D., Thompson, R. O. R. Y. & Plumb, R. A. J. Fluid Mech. 9, 655β672 (1980).
Antipov, S. V., Nezlin, M. V., Snezhkin, E. N. & Trubinikov, A. S. Nature 323, 238β240 (1986).
Read, P. L. & Hide, R. Nature 308, 45β48 (1984).
Hide, R. & Titman, C. W. J. Fluid Mech. 29, 39β60 (1967).
Rabaud, M. & Couder, Y. J. Fluid Mech. 136, 291β319 (1983).
Maxworthy, T. & Redekopp, L. G. Icarus 29, 261β271 (1976).
Petviashvili, V. I. Soviet Astr. Lett. 9, 137β138 (1983).
Dowling, T. E. & Ingersoll, A. P. J. atmos. Sci. 45 (1988).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sommeria, J., Meyers, S. & Swinney, H. Laboratory simulation of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Nature 331, 689β693 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/331689a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/331689a0
