β-Plane Corrections to Nonlinear Atmospheric Flow Patterns: Application to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) Drift Dynamics

β-Plane Corrections to Nonlinear Atmospheric Flow Patterns: Application to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) Drift Dynamics | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article β-Plane Corrections to Nonlinear Atmospheric Flow Patterns: Application to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) Drift Dynamics Oladiran Johnson Abimbola, Taiwo Adewumi, Oluwasesan Adeniran Falaiye This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8487802/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The Great Red Spot (GRS) of Jupiter has been observed for over a century, with researchers studying itscharacteristics and dynamics, including its size, depth, movement, and interactions with its environment.Recently, the f -plane thin-shell asymptotic analysis was used to explain some of the GRS features, butthe method failed to capture the observed westward drift of the GRS. In this study, the f-plane theory wasextended by including the Rossby parameter in the β-plane approximation and using the dimensionless Rossbydeformation parameter γ, to systematically apply perturbation theory. The westward drift velocity of 3.7m/s was analytically predicted, which is 95% in agreement with the observed 3.9 m/s. The observed 90-dayoscillation in drift rate was explained. Also explained is the north-south asymmetry in circulation patterns.The universality of the β-plane theory was demonstrated by its application to the vortices on Saturn, Neptuneand Earth, without free parameters. It was demonstrated in this study that for the understanding of long-livedatmospheric vortex dynamics, the planetary vorticity gradient is very critical. β-plane corrections f-plane Great Red Spot vortex dynamics Rossby waves Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8487802","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":573559306,"identity":"4487f94e-6806-4031-8203-bfaf26e5dafe","order_by":0,"name":"Oladiran Johnson Abimbola","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University Lafia","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oladiran","middleName":"Johnson","lastName":"Abimbola","suffix":""},{"id":573559307,"identity":"fffd6540-9c51-4c34-88ce-5df4eee52d17","order_by":1,"name":"Taiwo Adewumi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University Lafia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Taiwo","middleName":"","lastName":"Adewumi","suffix":""},{"id":573559311,"identity":"7b4419d6-1496-4bce-b52a-3925fa34f15f","order_by":2,"name":"Oluwasesan Adeniran Falaiye","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ilorin","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oluwasesan","middleName":"Adeniran","lastName":"Falaiye","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-31 08:38:37","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8487802/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8487802/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100121479,"identity":"0b1a3f66-bdb2-454a-a505-443ddf527421","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-13 08:49:57","extension":"json","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":5177,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"b63c481287ff4db9b427eac7163f6829.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8487802/v1/15494c38bb945f6770dc6991.json"},{"id":106778655,"identity":"1b29fed2-cbbd-454a-a9c2-d3a07598d680","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-13 11:13:42","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":882057,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Springer.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8487802/v1_covered_1838db7d-8100-44d7-86f1-c42f345094bd.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eβ-Plane Corrections to Nonlinear Atmospheric Flow Patterns: Application to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) Drift Dynamics\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"β-plane corrections, f-plane, Great Red Spot, vortex dynamics, Rossby waves","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8487802/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8487802/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The Great Red Spot (GRS) of Jupiter has been observed for over a century, with researchers studying itscharacteristics and dynamics, including its size, depth, movement, and interactions with its environment.Recently, the f -plane thin-shell asymptotic analysis was used to explain some of the GRS features, butthe method failed to capture the observed westward drift of the GRS. 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