Why is Mars cold in spite of an atmosphere of 95% carbon dioxide?

Long-term increase in solar irradiance

Global Warming on Mars & Cosmic Ray Research Are Shattering Media Driven "Consensus"

By EPW Blog

Friday, March 2, 2007

Two new developments in climate science are rocking the media driven "consensus" on global warming. National Geographic has an article from February 28, 2007 entitled, "Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says," and a February 26, 2007 release from the Danish National Space Center announced "A new theory of climate change", detailing the "remarkable results of research on cosmic rays and climate." (See also: Climate Skeptics Vindicated as Growing Number of Scientists & Politicians Oppose Alarmism)

According to National Geographic: "Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the 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,' Abdussamatov said."

This scientific research regarding Mars and the Sun, follows another new study about the impact of cosmic rays on the Earth's climate. A release from the Danish National Space Center details the latest research from scientists from Denmark, Canada and Israel.

"Nir Shaviv of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, together with Ján Veizer of the Ruhr University and the University of Ottawa, link [Earth's temperature] changes to the journey of the Sun and the Earth through the Milky Way Galaxy," the release stated.

The leader of Sun-climate research at the Danish National Space Center, Henrik Svensmark said, "The past 10 years have seen the reconnaissance of a new area of research by a small number of investigators.'"

Below are partial excerpts of both articles. Click on links for full text.

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

Kate Raviliousfor, National Geographic News

February 28, 2007

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".) New Mars Pictures Show Signs of Watery "Aquifers" (February 16, 2007)*

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 the 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.

Solar Cycles

Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun's heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see on both planets.

Mars and Earth, for instance, have experienced periodic ice ages throughout their histories.

"Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance," Abdussamatov said.

By studying fluctuations in the warmth of the sun, Abdussamatov believes he can see a pattern that fits with the ups and downs in climate we see on Earth and Mars.

# # #

A new theory of climate change

February 26, 2007

Remarkable results of research on cosmic rays and climate at the Danish National Space Center are summarized this month in a review for the Royal Astronomical Society in London.

The leader of Sun-climate research at the Danish National Space Center, Henrik Svensmark, puts together the findings reported by him and his colleagues in a dozen scientific papers, to tell how the climate is governed by atomic particles coming from exploded stars. These cosmic rays help to make ordinary clouds. High levels of cosmic rays and cloudiness cool the world, while milder intervals occur when cosmic rays and cloud cover diminish.

The review paper entitled "Cosmoclimatology: a new theory emerges' appears in the February issue of Astronomy & Geophysics. Here are some of its salient points.

For more than 20 years, satellite records of low-altitude clouds have closely followed variations in cosmic rays. Just how cosmic rays take part in cloud-making appeared in the SKY experiment, conducted in the basement of the Danish National Space Center. Electrons set free in the air by passing cosmic rays help to assemble the building blocks for cloud condensation nuclei on which water vapour condenses to make clouds.

Cosmic ray intensities -- and therefore cloudiness -- keep changing because the Sun's magnetic field varies in its ability to repel cosmic rays coming from the Galaxy, before they can reach the Earth. Radioactive carbon-14 and other unusual atoms made in the atmosphere by cosmic rays provide a record of how cosmic-ray intensities have varied in the past. They explain repeated alternations between cold and warm periods during the past 12,000 years. Whenever the Sun was feeble and cosmic-ray intensities were high, cold conditions ensued, most recently in the Little Ace Age that climaxed 300 years ago.

On long timescales the intensity of cosmic rays varies more emphatically because the influx from the Galaxy changes. During the past 500 million years the Earth has passed through four "hothouse' episodes, free of ice and with high sea levels, and four "icehouse' episodes like the one we live in now, with ice-sheets, glaciers and relatively low sea levels.

Nir Shaviv of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, together with Ján Veizer of the Ruhr University and the University of Ottawa, links these changes to the journey of the Sun and the Earth through the Milky Way Galaxy. They blame the icehouse episodes on encounters with bright spiral arms, where cosmic rays are most intense. More frequent chilling events, every 34 million years or so, occur whenever the solar system passes through with the mid-plane of the Galaxy.

In Snowball Earth episodes around 700 and 2300 million years ago, even the Equator was icy. At those times the birth-rate of stars in the Galaxy was unusually high, which would have also meant a large number of exploding stars and intense cosmic rays. Earlier still, the theory of cosmic rays and clouds helps to explain why the Earth did not freeze solid when it was very young. The Sun was much fainter than it is now, but also more vigorous in repelling cosmic rays, so the Earth would not have had much cloud cover.

While calculating the changing influx since life began about 3.8 billion years ago, Dr Svensmark discovered a surprising connection between cosmic-ray intensities and a variability of the productivity of life.

Near the end of his review Dr Svensmark writes: "The past 10 years have seen the reconnaissance of a new area of research by a small number of investigators. The multidisciplinary nature of cosmoclimatology is both a challenge and an opportunity for many lines of inquiry.' Even the search for alien life is affected, because it should now take into account of the need for the right magnetic environment, if life is to originate and survive on the planets of other stars.

The atmosperic pressure on Mars ranges from 6 to 10 millibars. That is, at most, just 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure. That could be like being how many miles above sea level on Earth? Mars would be quite frigid. That fact that liquid water has been said to exist on Mars suggests that Mars is NOT cold when these factors are considered.

Although Mars has highly CO2 concentrated atmosphere, the actual thickness of the atmosphere is very small - only about 3km.

Whereas on Earth the thickness of the atmosphere is about 42km.

Venus atmosphere is well over 100km thick.

The thickness of an atmosphere is a much greater influence over planet temperature than the composition of the molecules within in.

CO2 just has a slighlty greater warming effect than other molecules typically found in our atmosphere.

However, only 3km of atmosphere is not enough to prevent almost all of the heat escaping from Mars.

The atmosphere is only 1/1000 as dense as the Earth's. Not enough atmosphere to cause a greenhouse effect. Also, temps can reach 80 degrees F in some places on Mars.

I don't know about Venus, but everyone forgot to mention that there are no people on Mars. I suspect the devil is the actual culprit in the global warming phenomenon. Since there are no people, there are no souls, and the devil has no business there. There is a very suspicious looking hole in the surface of Mars, though.

By Alarmists' way of thinking, Mars should be quite warm. They claim quite correctly that Nitrogen and Oxygen do not absorb significant amounts of IR. They don't calculate water vapor and clouds into the Greenhouse effect - largely because they can't figure it out, but then they don't want to consider something that they know would destroy their hypothesis; water vapor stands there doing nothing until CO2 "tags" it in, then magically it can start doing its stuff as part of the feedback phenomenon. So that pretty much leaves you with CO2, retaining heat by re-radiating it back to the surface.

The partial pressure of CO2 on Mars is at least 50 times greater than that of Earth. If the N2, O2, and H2O don't contribute to the Greenhouse effect as claimed, then the Greenhouse effect should be 50 times greater - but that would make Mars the hottest planet in the solar system at over 1000K surface temp.

Mars' thin atmosphere void of water vapor's effects, as well as the ability for N2 and O2 to retain heat are the prime reasons for its temperature extremes...and we wonder why our current climate models are so inadequate.

Because of the density of the atmosphere. Most of the light is reflected to the space.

Besides, Mars is far from the sun compared with Venus and the earth, and therefore it receives less energy.

It's probably the combination of the carbon dioxide the the distance from the sun. Venus is closer.........Earth......then Mars. So maybe Mars is just far enough so it doesn't get affected even with it's high CO2 levels.

Didn't you study science in school? Mars is much farther from the sun than the earth, so it doesn't receive as much energy. Also, the atmosphere is so thin that there is absolutely no greenhouse affect. Finally, there is almost no water, and water retains heat.

It's probably the position of Mars. It is a very high altitude and maybe that is effecting the atmosphere.

simple--Mars gets almost 4 times as much solar radiation--and its atmosphere is less than 1/1000 as thick as Venus. That's 8th grade science.

None of which has anything to do with global warming--which refers to a CHANGE in the Earth's temperature--caused by a CHANGE in the levels of Co2.