More good news from Mars

[mithridates]

I remember seeing articles on this here and there before, but it just appeared in a major newspaper and brought about two questions:<br />- How much effort is saved in terms of terraforming when the planet has its temperature raised a full degree (well, Fahrenheit, but still) like this? It's quite nice when any planet shifts ever so slightly towards conditions we would need to inhabit it. Almost the same feeling as how stars like Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star are at least moving toward us instead of away.<br />- Would a full melting of the caps cause a runaway greenhouse effect with the lowered albedo and increased atmospheric density?<br />- Since the process is already in motion and we seem to intend to go to Mars, should we fast-track efforts to speed this up, such as the idea to launch missiles with small explosives that send black dust everywhere?<br /><br />Here's the article:<br /><br />http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070404.wmarzz0404/BNStory/Science/home<br /><br /><br />Mars experiences climate change too<br /><br />JULIE STEENHUYSEN<br /><br />Reuters<br /><br />CHICAGO — Earth's dusty neighbour 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.<br /><br />Researchers have been watching the changing face of Mars for years, studying slight differences in the brightness and darkness of its surface.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />NASA scientist Lori Fenton and colleagues, reporting this week in the journal Nature, now believe variations in radiation from the surface of Mars are fuelling strong winds that stir up giant dust storms, trapping <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>----- </p><p>http://mithridates.blogspot.com</p> </div>

 

[bdewoody]

If Mars is warming up due to activity of the sun then how much more likely is it that the earth's warming trend is also due to the same activity since we are so much closer to the source? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[3488]

Very true indeed. I have never really believed in man made global warming.<br /><br />Also not only Mars. <br /><br />The large Neptune moon Triton has shown warming, warmed up on average nearly 2 Celsius since the spectacular Voyager 2 encounter in August 1989 (-235 C / 38 K then, now -233 C / 40 K). Also Neptune itself has turned a deeper blue since then, having a 'sun tan'. <br /><br />KBO Pluto also does not appear to be cooling as expected, particularly as Pluto is now well past Perihelion (also 1989).<br /><br />The Sun is certainly more powerful!!!<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>