This is why I have not gotten my panties in a bunch over global warming. There is only one verifiable reason for temperature change of any significance on this or any other planet in our solar system... the SUN (and our orbit in relationship to it)!
The climate change on Mars as well as its direct correlation with the change on earth has been known for some time (but the news media doesn't seem to care). Maybe we should blame it on the Mars rovers?? That's not to say I don't support the efforts that are taking place to eradicate the perceived problem (warming).. but I support them for different reasons.... less oil usage means political and economic influence from the Middle East will be greatly reduced. Vegetarianism, or at least only occasional meat consumption, by the masses will eliminate hog confinement operations and make more food (grains and veggies) available for the starving masses around the world. Global warming... doesn't really concern me because I am not convinced that it is a negative or positive. I can't quite understand why everyone who talks of the coming of Sat Yuga, the new millennium, the golden age, etc. gets all bent out of shape that things are changing and are so sure the it is BAD (really bad). What about the will of God... maybe the Age of Enlightenment has an average temperature similar to Maui year around??? I'd take that. HandsOnMaui --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > April 29, 2007 > > Climate change hits Mars > > Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast > that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, writes Jonathan > Leake. > > Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the > 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over > approximately the same period. > > Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in > planetary climates could be natural phenomena. > > The mechanism at work on Mars appears, however, to be different from > that on Earth. One of the researchers, Lori Fenton, believes > variations in radiation and temperature across the surface of the Red > Planet are generating strong winds. > > In a paper published in the journal Nature, she suggests that such > winds can stir up giant dust storms, trapping heat and raising the > planet's temperature. > > Fenton's team unearthed heat maps of the Martian surface from Nasa's > Viking mission in the 1970s and compared them with maps gathered more > than two decades later by Mars Global Surveyor. They found there had > been widespread changes, with some areas becoming darker. > > When a surface darkens it absorbs more heat, eventually radiating > that heat back to warm the thin Martian atmosphere: lighter surfaces > have the opposite effect. The temperature differences between the two > are thought to be stirring up more winds, and dust, creating a cycle > that is warming the planet. >
