CAN WE DIG CARL UP AND TAUNT HIM?:

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 (Jonathan Leake, 4/29/07, Sunday Times of London)

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.

Strange, scientists solemnly assured us in the 80s that the dust kicked up by nuclear warheads would cause global winter. If they weren't smarter than everyone else you'd swear they had no idea what they're talking about.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 29, 2007 7:22 PM