Mars heating up, climate change to blame
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Earth's dusty neighbor Mars is grappling with its own form of climate change as fluctuating solar radiation is kicking up dust and winds that may be melting the planet's southern polar ice cap, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear. NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fueling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature. By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars, a measure known as an object's albedo- they predict the red planet has warmed by around one degree Fahrenheit (0.65 degree Celsius) from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap. On earth, carbon dioxide traps infrared radiation, which can affect global climate. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuel emissions add to the problem. On Mars, it's the red-tinged dust. Fenton's team compared thermal maps gathered from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They saw that large swaths of the surface have darkened or brightened over the past three decades. These albedo changes strengthened winds, picking up and circulating dust, creating a vicious cycle that is warming the planet. "Our results suggests that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars," Fenton's team wrote. They believe changes in albedo should be an important part of future studies on atmosphere and climate change.
Regards, Satips.
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Earth's dusty neighbor Mars is grappling with its own form of climate change as fluctuating solar radiation is kicking up dust and winds that may be melting the planet's southern polar ice cap, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear. NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fueling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature. By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars, a measure known as an object's albedo- they predict the red planet has warmed by around one degree Fahrenheit (0.65 degree Celsius) from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap. On earth, carbon dioxide traps infrared radiation, which can affect global climate. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuel emissions add to the problem. On Mars, it's the red-tinged dust. Fenton's team compared thermal maps gathered from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They saw that large swaths of the surface have darkened or brightened over the past three decades. These albedo changes strengthened winds, picking up and circulating dust, creating a vicious cycle that is warming the planet. "Our results suggests that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars," Fenton's team wrote. They believe changes in albedo should be an important part of future studies on atmosphere and climate change.
Regards, Satips.
You do know that you can't say "climate change to blame" as it is nonsensical. It isn't a cause. "climate change" is the overall trend, the resulting event. Something caused it. It's those canals I tell you!
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Shog9 wrote:
And with that, Paul closed his browser, sipped his herbal tea, fixed the flower in his hair, and smiled brightly at the multitude of cute, furry animals flocking around the grassy hillside where he sat coding Ruby on his Mac...
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Earth's dusty neighbor Mars is grappling with its own form of climate change as fluctuating solar radiation is kicking up dust and winds that may be melting the planet's southern polar ice cap, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear. NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fueling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature. By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars, a measure known as an object's albedo- they predict the red planet has warmed by around one degree Fahrenheit (0.65 degree Celsius) from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap. On earth, carbon dioxide traps infrared radiation, which can affect global climate. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuel emissions add to the problem. On Mars, it's the red-tinged dust. Fenton's team compared thermal maps gathered from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They saw that large swaths of the surface have darkened or brightened over the past three decades. These albedo changes strengthened winds, picking up and circulating dust, creating a vicious cycle that is warming the planet. "Our results suggests that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars," Fenton's team wrote. They believe changes in albedo should be an important part of future studies on atmosphere and climate change.
Regards, Satips.
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Earth's dusty neighbor Mars is grappling with its own form of climate change as fluctuating solar radiation is kicking up dust and winds that may be melting the planet's southern polar ice cap, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear. NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fueling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature. By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars, a measure known as an object's albedo- they predict the red planet has warmed by around one degree Fahrenheit (0.65 degree Celsius) from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap. On earth, carbon dioxide traps infrared radiation, which can affect global climate. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuel emissions add to the problem. On Mars, it's the red-tinged dust. Fenton's team compared thermal maps gathered from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They saw that large swaths of the surface have darkened or brightened over the past three decades. These albedo changes strengthened winds, picking up and circulating dust, creating a vicious cycle that is warming the planet. "Our results suggests that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars," Fenton's team wrote. They believe changes in albedo should be an important part of future studies on atmosphere and climate change.
Regards, Satips.
There goes our backup planet when Earth is done. :|
Weiye Chen A self proclaimed hermit living in a cave, with his PC connected to the world.
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There goes our backup planet when Earth is done. :|
Weiye Chen A self proclaimed hermit living in a cave, with his PC connected to the world.
our best bet is europa and titan.
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our best bet is europa and titan.
Aren't they cold? I hate cold. :~
"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus "Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne Metcalfe
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Earth's dusty neighbor Mars is grappling with its own form of climate change as fluctuating solar radiation is kicking up dust and winds that may be melting the planet's southern polar ice cap, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear. NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fueling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature. By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars, a measure known as an object's albedo- they predict the red planet has warmed by around one degree Fahrenheit (0.65 degree Celsius) from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap. On earth, carbon dioxide traps infrared radiation, which can affect global climate. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuel emissions add to the problem. On Mars, it's the red-tinged dust. Fenton's team compared thermal maps gathered from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They saw that large swaths of the surface have darkened or brightened over the past three decades. These albedo changes strengthened winds, picking up and circulating dust, creating a vicious cycle that is warming the planet. "Our results suggests that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars," Fenton's team wrote. They believe changes in albedo should be an important part of future studies on atmosphere and climate change.
Regards, Satips.
I'm sure Mr. Gore can pin that on the number of satellites we've put in orbit around Mars, blocking sunlight, and the number of rovers we've landed. Obviously those solar powered rovers are contributing to climate change by changing the reflectivity of the soil as they leave tire tread marks all over the planet. I mean, come on. There's a clear correlation between the number of meters travelled during the different Martian seasons and the size of the ice pack. And correlation means causation, right??? Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith -
Aren't they cold? I hate cold. :~
"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus "Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne Metcalfe
Possibly they are heating up as well :->
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There goes our backup planet when Earth is done. :|
Weiye Chen A self proclaimed hermit living in a cave, with his PC connected to the world.
You do know that it needs to warm up a lot to be our backup.
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Earth's dusty neighbor Mars is grappling with its own form of climate change as fluctuating solar radiation is kicking up dust and winds that may be melting the planet's southern polar ice cap, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear. NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fueling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the planet's temperature. By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars, a measure known as an object's albedo- they predict the red planet has warmed by around one degree Fahrenheit (0.65 degree Celsius) from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap. On earth, carbon dioxide traps infrared radiation, which can affect global climate. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuel emissions add to the problem. On Mars, it's the red-tinged dust. Fenton's team compared thermal maps gathered from NASA's Viking mission in the 1970s with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They saw that large swaths of the surface have darkened or brightened over the past three decades. These albedo changes strengthened winds, picking up and circulating dust, creating a vicious cycle that is warming the planet. "Our results suggests that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars," Fenton's team wrote. They believe changes in albedo should be an important part of future studies on atmosphere and climate change.
Regards, Satips.
Hmm.. Maybe it is not "global warming" but "solar system warming". It is not our green house gasses, it is the sun is getting marking and ready to die out :)
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