Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source

Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by Florin_Andrei on Thursday July 28, 2016 @01:18PM (#12181593)

Gravity waves are the waves forming on top of atmospheric layers, like ripples in a pond.

Gravitational waves are the spacetime waves generated by black hole mergers and the like.

Very different phenomena.

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by disconcision on Thursday July 28, 2016 @01:46PM (#12181814)

Google search seems complicit in this misconception. A search for gravity waves (without quotes) yields only results for gravitational waves. Searching "gravity waves" is only slightly better, yielding the actual meaning as the second definition (and result).

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by yongjik on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:30PM (#12182112)

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2016/atmospheric-...

> It’s important to clarify that atmospheric or oceanic gravity waves are not to be confused with gravitational waves, the outward propagating perturbations in spacetime that are associated with cool physics graphics and, apparently, any and all Google searches on either subject.

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by Florin_Andrei on Thursday July 28, 2016 @07:44PM (#12184053)

Well, it's two different phenomena wth unfortunately similar names. Of course it's going to trip up search engines.

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by BurningFrog on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:17PM (#12182469)

So "gravity waves" are what we commonly call "waves"?

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by Florin_Andrei on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:45PM (#12182645)

To be fair, both are 'waves' of some sort.

But, yeah, gravity waves are closer to the common understanding of the word 'waves'.

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by 00098345 on Thursday July 28, 2016 @08:13PM (#12184223)

The current understanding of waves on a liquid surface is attributed to a clear boundary between two fluids with a density difference and a velocity gradient. Gravity plays no role in this.

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin%E2%80%93Helmholtz_insta...

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by hellabites on Friday July 29, 2016 @01:29PM (#12188367)

Two fluids with a density difference and a velocity gradient usually have a common force acting upon them, e.g. gravity, which enforces so-said interface. Perturbations to the average interface are restored via this force, and these perturbations are called gravity waves.

KH Instabilities give rise to gravity waves.

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by wiml on Friday July 29, 2016 @02:52AM (#12185357)

Big water waves are gravity waves, but ripples are capillary waves, I think.

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Re:Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Likely a Massive Heat Source by adrianratnapala on Thursday July 28, 2016 @06:00PM (#12183524)

But likening them to ripples in a guitar string is still silly.

Why choose this somewhat distant similie when ordinary water waves are real gravity waves, and are even more familiar to people than are guitars (let alone the excitations of their strings)?

Perhaps the gravity waves in question are standing waves?

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