Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

h/t C from National Geographic News - link:

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.

Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)

Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.

In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.

Comments

[Darth Malice]

Darn Mars Rovers!

[bloodrage bob]

whut the....? MARS is gittin' warmer, TOO?!?

but...but...but that'd mean it's the SUN that's hottin' thangs up, not bush!

[Purple Avenger]

Damn Rove. He's corrupted the sun now.

[Cindi]

Damn, I just spent two days taking photos of my carbon footprints to send with my electric bill. Does this mean I now have to send real money?

[scarshapedstar]

Uh... you guys can't simultaneously insist that

a) the earth flat-out isn't getting warmer, period

and

b) the earth is getting warmer but there's nothing we can do about it

They are quite obviously mutually exclusive. So, the question as always: were you lying then, or are you lying now?

[seekeronos]

No Scar... it means those naughty Martians have clearly ignored the most holy al-Gore... if only those loony wingnut Martians would remove their tin-foil hats long enough to [Hear The Truth™] according to Our Green Saviour, they would not be presently baking away in those harsh -40°C summers!!

Between that and all those SUVs they drive, it is no wonder the Martians had to come invade us a few times to steal our women and resources.

[Jeff]

You guys are forgetting one thing, the Mars rovers created greenhouse gases and caused the planet to heat.

[Fred Beloit]

Here are some propositions for you Scarzi: The climate gets warmer sometimes and cooler sometimes. It may be getting warmer now. The earth is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old. The temperature goes up and the temperature goes down. It even does this each day. It may even be that we are beginning to enter a cooler period at this very moment, nobody knows. The Earth may be getting warmer, but to make it cooler we may have to do without heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer to lessen the mean temperature, whatever practical meaning that may have, by one degree. We may even, oh no, noooooooo, have to unplug our computers. How's that for a deal? Severe sacrifice for a debatable advantage. Thanks, I'll pass for now.

[Legalize]

Yes, because the conditions on Mars and Earth are oh so similar.

[Raging_Dave]

I guess there must be SUV's and pollution-pumping aliens on Mars, eh? You eco-type people dismiss anything and everything that contradicts your religion, no matter the facts.

I swear, you're like children who just got caught in a lie, and are trying to ignore the fact that we just caught you. "Nuh uh! Nuh uh! That's different! Nuh uh!"

By the way scar, nice strawman arguement you set up there. It's too bad for you that I've never stated the Earth wasn't warming up. What I've stated is that your "Man-made Global Warming" religion is bullshit. Unless you think there were SUV's and fossil fuels fifteen hundred years ago? I mean, the earth hasn't even gotten as warm as it was back around 500 AD yet, and the only explination you will accept is that eeeeeeeeeeeevil humans are the cause of the earth warming up. So by using your logic (mankind is the root of all global warming) we must have been using up fossil fuels like a MO-FO back then, right?

Or perhaps, just maybe, when people say that warming and cooling are natural cycles of the planet, THOSE PEOPLE ARE CORRECT AND YOU ARE WRONG. Just mebby.

But I'll just wait for you to stick your fingers in your ears yet again. "Nuh Uh! That was different! Nuh Uh!"

[Zack]

Methinks a petition be started to have Gore's Oscar victory nullified since it's obvious now that it's a work of fiction.

[Andrew]

"Methinks a petition be started to have Gore's Oscar victory nullified since it's obvious now that it's a work of fiction."

So are most movies that win Oscars. Although, most of them are also GOOD.

[yyy]

You numbnuts do realize that there aren't any credible scientists who think the sun is causing global warming on Earth, don't you?

In other words, this theory is about as credible as 'it's cold outside today' so global warming is a lie.

[Cold Rolled Bologna]

"You numbnuts do realize that there aren't any credible scientists who think the sun is causing global warming on Earth, don't you?"

Can you prove that statement? I mean as it flies in the face of every science book ever written and totally dispells those silly stories about why the glaciers receded.

[yyy]

Sun does vary
The radiation output of the Sun does fluctuate over the course of its 11-year solar cycle. But the change is only about one-tenth of 1 percent — not substantial enough to affect Earth’s climate in dramatic ways, and certainly not enough to be the sole culprit of our planet’s current warming trend, scientists say.

“The small measured changes in solar output and variations from one decade to the next are only on the order of a fraction of a percent, and if you do the calculations not even large enough to really provide a detectable signal in the surface temperature record,” said Penn State meteorologist Michael Mann.

The link between solar activity and global warming is just another scapegoat for human-caused warming, Mann told LiveScience.

“Solar activity continues to be one of the last bastions of contrarians,” Mann said. “People who don’t accept the existence of anthropogenic climate change still try to point to solar activity.”

[Legalize]

"Methinks a petition be started to have Gore's Oscar victory nullified since it's obvious now that it's a work of fiction."

No. It's obvious that a few badly-made propaganda films, and reactionary morons think that global warming is fiction.

[templar knight]

Then what is causing the warming on Mars, yyy? Does your Mann say? And if the sun is warming Mars, which is further away than Earth, something just doesn't add up.

[templar knight]

Legalize, no one says global warming is fiction. As far as I know, everyone agrees that the climate is getting warmer, we just disagree on the primary cause.

[Legalize]

Here's what a scientist who appeared in the propaganda thinks of "the Swindle": http://fermiparadox.wordpress.com/2007/03/10/more-about-swindling/.

Predicted Winger retort: "OmGZ Libz r s00000z st00pid LOL!!!1111one a/s/l? LOL!!!"

[Legalize]

tk, comparing Mars to Earth is a false comparison. There are little to no similarities between the two planets. You might as well be asking why bacon gets warmer when you put it in the pan and turn the heat on.

[yyy]

I have no idea why Mars is getting warmer, so is Jupiter but not Venus, one of Triton's moons is getting warmer, too.

That is all irrelevant unless every planet in the solar system is getting warmer at approximately the same rate then there isn't any reason to believe they are linked.

However, the fact that Mars is warming makes it sooo much fun to talk about SUVs on Mars.

What we do know is that the vast majority of scientists who study the climate all agree the primary reason the Earth is warming so rapidly is due to human activity.

The fact that not 100% of scientists and Ph. D.'s all agree on this doesn't really seem compelling evidence to discount the 99% of them who do.

[templar knight]

True, Legalize, the two are dissimilar, but I am still curious about the warming on Mars, and what might be causing it. Legalize, I feel that the absolute worst thing that could happen with respect to global warming would be a headlong rush into the widespread use of nuclear power. I realize that France gets a huge amount of its electricity from nuclear power, but I cringe when I think about the proliferation of nuclear power plants all over the World. There is just too great a chance for mischief, and I'm thinking about Iran and No. Korea, but just imagine if 100 or more nations had nuclear power.

[yyy]

Hows about we start with everyone using only energy efficient light bulbs, adding a fuel tax for cars that get less than 30MPG and go from there? We could fix Kyoto and get a global agreement, perhaps institute carbon trading at the country level. We could, dare I say it, pass laws that mandate all new construction meets minimum 'green' standards and pass out government contracts to same.

Nuclear power isn't the answer since nobody has yet come up with a way to dispose of the waste. Burying something with a half life of 250,000 years in a cave or worse yet the ocean is the height of folly.

Instead, we do nothing, we're still waiting on the 100% consensus. Nero fiddled while Rome burned as they say.

[bloodrage bob]

all very sensible & semi-economical suggestions there, yyy. since no one's stopping you from doing this - no one at all - you go on ahead and do all those things you listed to help global warming, and we'll do what WE want to do.

only that's not good enough for the left, is it. in fact, that highlights the fundamental difference between leftist totalitarians and those who aren't. those of us on the right who doubt that global warming is manmade have no quarrel with your "lightbulb" suggestions. you wanna do that, yyy, you go right ahead. you do what you think you should, and feel free to encourage others to do likewise.

but that's not good enough for the left, is it. it never is, in fact. the left can never leave well enough alone at "you *should* do...this or that. noooooo, with the left, it ALWAYS has to morph into "you **MUST** do"...this or" that. never mind that your own scientists have admitted that all the things the left has proposed - destruction of all industry; reversion to a barter economy; a clinton ruling by decree for life - will result in only a .04 degree improvement in the heat. (statistically, that equals "diddlysquat".)

no, because it *sounds good*, and more to the point "will increase the power of the totalitarian leftist governments", we're gonna HAVE TO do all those things in order to make you & yours happy. like the innocent, happy-sounding 'social security'. is SS voluntary? can an american choose to opt out of fdr's glorious ponzi scheme? no, he can't, can he. leftist politics 101: "make sure they have no choice in the matter".

well, not on my watch, pal.

[yyy]

If it was up to you there would be no pensions, no health insurance for employees, no unions, no food safety laws, no drug safty laws, no emissions standards whatsoever, no corporate disclosure requirements, no child labor laws...

I could go on and on. Each and every one of these things that we take for granted was fought tooth and nail by the conservatives and business, because they were going to ruin the industry, ruin the economy or ruin the nation.

Sometimes you need a macro solution and the environment is one of those times. Leaving it up to individuals won't get the job done since most individuals are interested only in their short term profit and short term comfort.

PS..FDR never meant for anyone to retire on social security, it was supposed to be enough to prevent people from starving and going homeless, the fact that it has morphed into something people expect to live comfortably on is mostly but not all the blame of the great society liberals, I agree.

[Cold Rolled Bologna]

What is really strange about "global warming" and man made causes is that it is Biblical. Amazing huh? Libs thumping the Bible..............

[seekeronos]

Ain't that the truth. Libs have their own religion that they froth on their Eco-Gaea worship about as much as they say Christians do with God's word.

[bloodrage bob]

LOVED that stirring speech, there, yyy. when you invoked "pensions", and "fdr", and motherhood/apple pie".....man! brought tears to my eyes, it did.

one thing ya DIDN'T manage to do was to deny that you left-wing totalitarians are real big on legally-enforced, "can't-opt-out-of" involuntary mandates. just like the left's ideas for dealing with global warming are all turning out to be: not so much "we ought to"'s, a *whole bunch* of "we must make it illegal to"'s.

what a bunch of sad, anal-retentive control freaks you people are. it really IS all about power with you bozos, ain't it? hmmm. what might freud say that your lust for power is an attempted compensation for?

[Y]

There you go quoting Michael "Hockey Stick" Mann again. It's amazing how much the AGW crowd depends on him. Why don't you find a scientist who hasn't proven themselves to be a dishonest hack?

http://www.climateaudit.org/