Almost every planet in our solar system has
an atmosphere.
With atmospheres come weather, seasonal variations
and convection.
Some of the most interesting atmospheric phenomena
are cyclones, vortices, and storms.
We are familiar with storms found on Earth,
but most of them are relatively puny compared
to the mammoths we have observed in other
places around the solar system.
So, what are the 10 most massive storms observed
all over the solar system?
This video is made in collaboration with Primal
Space, who will be guest narrating for us
today.
For more really interesting space related
topics, be sure to check their channel out
after the video.
Primal Space, you’re up!
Thanks!
Number 10: Titan’s polar vortices.
Titan is an astonishing moon.
It is unique in the solar system in that it
is the only moon to have a substantial atmosphere.
And it really is substantial.
Titan is much smaller than Earth, and yet
its atmosphere is 1.2 times the mass of Earth’s.
Because of this, Titan’s atmosphere stretches
far into space for hundreds of kilometres.
In fact, its atmosphere at the surface is
thick enough, and the gravity low enough,
that flapping your arms on Titan with makeshift
wings attached would allow you to fly.
When Cassini made its closest approach over
Titan in 2014, it flew by at an altitude of
only 880km above Titan’s surface.
Even at this altitude, atmospheric drag from
the flyby forced Cassini to use its thrusters
to maintain its trajectory.
In comparison, the ISS orbits Earth at an
altitude of only 400km.
Now, storms on Titan are not so easy to spot
from space, but it’s clear that methane
clouds form and precipitation occurs regularly
on this world.
However, the most noticeable storm on Titan
is the one found semi permanently over its
south pole.
Titan is thought to be a super rotator, or
in other words, its atmosphere rotates faster
than its surface.
And this is definitely the case with this
vortex, which rotates once every nine hours
compared to the 16-day rotational period of
Titan.
Initial research suggests this vortex is related
to seasonal variations on the Moon, forming
as the pole heads into its 15-year winter.
Number 9.
Mars’ cyclone.
Mars is already pretty well known for its
planet wide dust storms, storms that kick
up so much of Mars’ ultrafine dust that
it almost obscures the view of the surface
from space.
We’ve been able to observe these storms
up from space with missions like Hubble, but
also up close with the various rover missions
on Mars’ surface.
These dust storms have ultimately been the
reason why most solar powered missions on
Mars have ended, most notably in 2018 the
Opportunity rover couldn’t survive the dust
storm that lasted several months.
Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, it is a wonder
it can carry any dust at all.
However, it just goes to show how fine the
dust particles on Mars are, much smaller than
Earth sand grains.
More surprising still was a discovery made
in 1999 by Hubble, which observed a cyclone
on Mars over 1,100km in diameter with a 200km
wide eye.
This isn’t really the same as a hurricane
on Earth, more like something known as a polar
low.
These are short-lived atmospheric low-pressure
systems, like depressions, with a top speed
not exceeding 100km/h.
Since that sighting in 1999, more have been
seen in similar regions on Mars, never lasting
for more than a day or two.
Because of the whiteness of these clouds,
it seems like they are dust free, meaning
they are likely water ice clouds.
Number 8.
Earth’s cyclones.
We have the best understanding of the processes
behind storms on Earth, and we have plenty
of different types here.
However, as we focus on the biggest storms
on record, we have to look at Typhoon Tip,
a Category 5 super typhoon that formed in
1979 near Japan.
This monster typhoon was comparable to half
the land area of the US, at 2,200 km in diameter.
Its top sustained wind speed was an incredible
305km/h, with a record low sea level pressure
detected.
Luckily, at its peak, it wasn’t close to
land, and by the time it did make landfall,
wind speeds had reduced to 130km/h.
It was still enough to do damage, but it was
nowhere near the deadliest cyclone on record.
Number 7.
Venus’ polar vortices.
Considering Venus can be our closest neighbouring
planet, it does seem to have been largely
ignored by space agencies in the last few
decades.
However, Venus has the thickest atmosphere
of any of the terrestrial planets, reaching
93bar at the surface, the equivalent of being
900m underwater on Earth.
Near the surface, the air flows slowly, however
10s of kilometres up, Venus’ winds can be
fast, around 400km/h.
This means that Venus is also a super rotator.
Venus does get lightning storms from time
to time, but the really interesting storms
are found around the poles again.
Venus, like Titan, has polar vortices, but
in the cause of Venus, they are over both
poles.
These ones are also much larger, around the
size of Europe.
Found towards the centre of these vortices
are not one, but two eyes.
This is quite unique, and the case for it
is currently unknown.
Space agencies have begun eyeing up Venus
again recently, so hopefully it won’t be
too long before we get fresh data about this
mysterious world.
Number 6.
Uranus’ storms.
A quick glance at a natural colour image of
Uranus doesn’t seem to reveal much in the
way of dynamic activity at all.
In the infrared, that is a different story.
Large bands span the planet, and active storms
light up against the cooler surroundings.
A high contrast natural colour view of Uranus
from Hubble shows one of these storms, perhaps
the biggest observed on Uranus, reaching two-thirds
the size of the US.
Uranus does seem to generally be a calmer
place compared to Neptune, although this shows
that giant storms are still possible here.
This could be because Uranus doesn’t seem
to emanate heat as much as Neptune, meaning
the engine driving such storms would not be
as strong.
Number 5.
Jupiter’ polar vortices.
If you thought Venus was impressive with two
eyes around its polar vortices, check out
this amazing configuration of vortices found
around the poles of Jupiter.
Around the north pole are 9 distinct vortices,
kind of in a square shape with a massive cyclone
found in the centre.
On the other side of the planet, around the
south pole, we find a similar phenomenon,
except this time there are 7 cyclones in a
hexagon shape.
Just one of these cyclones is bigger than
the United States in diameter.
In enhanced natural light, these vortices
are beautiful.
We don’t know how permanent these features
are, we’ve only discovered their existence
since Juno arrived.
If anything, we would expect them to merge,
but they seem to be enduring.
Nature certainly does like to throw us some
curve-balls from time to time.
Number 4.
Neptune’s Great Dark Spot.
As Voyager 2 flew by Neptune in 1989, it got
very lucky.
At just that moment in Neptune’s existence,
it was experiencing a massive storm that stretched
out for 13,000km.
Scientists though they had just discovered
a storm comparable to Jupiter’s Great Red
Spot, perhaps a permanent feature that had
always been with Neptune.
As such, they named it Neptune’s Great Dark
Spot.
But when Hubble was launched and pointed at
Neptune, the spot had completely disappeared.
Since then, Neptune has had other dark spots
come and go, although perhaps not as big as
the one Voyager saw.
All in all, it seems that Neptune spends about
half its time with a dark spot.
The rest of the time, these storms may continue
on as less powerful cyclones, before finding
renewed strength depending on Neptune’s
weather conditions.
Number 3.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
It may surprise you to find out that Jupiter’s
Great Red Spot only made it to number 3 on
this list.
Although, you should be aware that this storm
is certainly no pushover, having existed since
Galileo first spotted it back in 1665.
During modern day observations, this storm
was, at its maximum, the equivalent of three
Earths across.
Although it is smaller today than it ever
has been, it certainly won’t go anywhere
for another few decades at least, and as it
continues to gobble up smaller storms, it
could well be that it stays as a permanent
feature.
Wind speeds measure up to 430km/h around the
walls, however in the centre, an eye can indeed
be found.
Here, the air is relatively motionless, a
stark contrast to what it’s like in any
direction for thousands of kilometres.
Number 2.
Saturn’s storm.
Saturn, like a lot of the other planets with
atmospheres, also has beautiful polar vortices,
one found on each of its poles.
Saturn’s south pole has a relatively normal,
yet very large vortex and eye found in the
centre, with many smaller storms circling
it.
However, the really eye-catching storm is
found in the north pole, which has been dubbed
Saturn’s hexagon.
In a similar fashion to Jupiter’s hexagon
structure of storms, Saturn goes a step further
and exhibits an actual hexagon which stretches
for 30,000km across, each one of the sides
of the hexagon about the size of Earth.
The explanation for why this hexagon exists
is not known for sure, but some experiments
have recreated a hexagon in a circular tank
of liquid by using just the right speed and
gradient of flow.
Cassini, as it passed by the central vortex,
captured this stunning close-up of the clouds
structure found in the centre.
However, these storms did not put Saturn at
number 2 on the list.
The biggest storm on Saturn was named the
Great White Spot.
These are temporary storms which appear every
few decades, the last one forming around 10
years ago.
What makes these storms so big is that they
are very long, sometimes even looping around
the entire planet as they travel.
They are thought to appear in conjunction
with the Saturnian seasons, forming as the
atmosphere cools in a hemisphere.
Leaving us with the biggest storm found in
the solar system, number 1: The Carrington
Event.
Solar storms are a near constant occurrence,
with millions of tonnes of charged particles
from the Sun erupting into space.
Coronal mass ejections, where charged matter
that was suspended above the Sun’s limb
is ejected into space by magnetic reconnection
events are the sources of the most powerful
storms.
These storms effect the entire solar system,
the effects of some being recorded all the
way beyond Pluto with the New Horizons probe.
And just like other storms we’ve talked
about, not all solar storms are created equal.
The biggest storm on record is the Carrington
Event, the biggest coronal mass ejection to
impact Earth back in 1859.
The effects of it compressed Earth’s magnetic
field to its atmosphere, creating a near global
aurora, bright enough to read a newspaper
at night.
Had it happened today, it would have likely
created major power outages across many countries,
acting like a global EMP bomb.
We were fortunate in 2013, as a Carrington
size CME erupted from the Sun, thankfully
in the opposite direction from Earth.
But as far as big storms go, the Sun is definitely
the winner.
Look at how small we are compared to some
coronal loops suspended by the Sun’s magnetic
field.
You may consider it cheeky to add solar storms
to the list, but we couldn’t resist seeing
as it has storm in its name.
So, there we have it, some of the biggest,
weirdest and most impressive storms found
across our Solar System.
Thanks for watching!
And 
thanks again to Primal Space for narrating
this video.
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