Why is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot so long-lasting?

There’s no land on the gas giant to break it apart

Jupiter is a gaseous planet with rapid rotation, which causes the winds to organise into bands of easterly and westerly winds, but this also causes turbulence. Vortices (cyclones and anticyclones) are a natural feature of this kind of turbulent air flow; the Great Red Spot (GRS) is an anticyclone, spinning counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.

It's more stable than an anticyclone on Earth as there are fewer disruptions, like land masses, to break it apart. It’s also confined by strong winds to not move in latitude, making it even more stable. In essence, it's a storm rolling like a ball bearing in a moving channel of winds.

Minimum number of years that the storm is believed to have lasted 400 1979 Earth days for the GRS to rotate counterclockwise Speed of the winds on the oval edges The length of Jupiter’s GRS, equal to 12,400 miles The first clear close-up image of the GRS was taken by Voyager 1 22° 20,000km Why do pulsars pulse? The GRS is 22 degrees south of Jupiter’s equator Six 680km/h