The planet Jupiter also appears to be experiencing the effects of global warming:
A storm is brewing half a billion miles away and in a rare event, astronomers get to watch it closely.
Jupiter is growing a new red spot and the Hubble Space Telescope is photographing the scene. Backyard astronomers have been following the action, too.
“Red Spot Jr.” as it is being called, formed after three white oval-shaped storms—two of which were at least 90 years old—merged between 1998 and 2000.
A similar merger took place centuries ago and formed the bigger and legendary Great Red Spot, a storm twice as big as Earth and almost 300 years old.
Close look
Close inspections of Red Spot Jr., in Hubble images released today, reveal that similar to the Great Red Spot, the more recently developed storm rises above the top of the main cloud deck on Jupiter.
Little is known about how storms form on the giant planet. They are often described as behaving similar to hurricanes on Earth. Some astronomers believe that the spots dredge up material deep below Jupiter’s clouds and lift it to where the Sun’s ultraviolet light chemically alters it to give it a red hue.
The latest images could provide evidence that Jupiter is in the midst of a global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit on different parts of the globe.
We’re causing global warming on Jupiter?! Hat tip: The Moderate Voice
In all seriousness I’m not a denialist on the subject of global warming. I think that global warming is taking place, that human activity is a cause of global warming (that’s just physics—the First Law of Thermodynamics, to be precise, since we’re generating heat and energy that heat and energy is going somewhere), I’m not sure of the relative importance of human activity in causing global warming, and I’m not sure of what the proper course of action is, if any. My main interest in the subject is that, if we undertake a course of action to remediate global warming, it’s both effective and efficient. My intuition is that any plan that exempts China, India, and all of the countries in the tropics (where most of the heat is) will neither be effective nor efficient.
This study, along with other information suggesting that the warming we’re experiencing here is happening all over the solar system, will certainly provide more ammunition for those who oppose taking any action.
Phil Bowermaster comments on the story.
No Government Cheese is concerned about the Jovian children.
Ace is afraid that the coastal areas of Jupiter will be under 30 feet of water.
Bithead’s headline is very close to mine.
I read the same thing recently about Mars. Like you, I’m certain human activity affects warming but it may be only part of the mix. I like your general approach on this issue- fact-based and reasonable.
I take our similar comments, to simply be indicative of the lay of the land, as it were. The facts of the case are such that they can only be played a certain way and I suspect that two of us are far from alone in our reading of the matter.