Baroclinic Model of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

This paper proposes a quasi-geostrophic baroclinic model of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) as a localized eddy formation in a continuously stratified rotating atmosphere under the action of a horizontal shear flow in the f -plane approximation. On the basis of the theory of ellipsoidal vortices, an analytical relationship is obtained between the geometric dimensions of the vortex, the potential vorticity of the vortex core, and the characteristics of the background flow. Measurements of a number of characteristics of both the vortex and the background flow in the Voyager 1 (1979), Galileo (1996), and Cassini (2000) missions were used. Based on the theory, the vertical size of the GRS was calculated, which turned out to be close to the same characteristic measured in the Voyager 1 (1979) mission.