There’s Global Warming on Mars Too

This is just one of dozens of responses to common climate change denial arguments, which can all be found at How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.

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Objection:

Global warming is happening on Mars and Pluto as well. Since there are no SUV’s on Mars, CO2 can’t be causing Global Warming.

Answer:

Warming on another planet would be an interesting coincidence, but even if it were the case it does not necessarily have to have the same cause. The only relevant factor the Earth and Mars share is the sun, so if the warming were real and related it would logically be due to the sun. Well the sun is being watched and measured very carefully back here on earth and it is not the primary cause of the current climate change.

As for this alleged extraterrestrial warming, there is very little evidence to go on when it comes to discerning a global climate change on Mars. The only evidence out there that I am aware of is a series of photographs of a single icy region in the southern hemisphere that shows melting over a 6 year period (about 3 Martian years). Here on earth we have direct measurements from all over the globe, widespread glacial retreat, reduction of sea ice and satellite measurements of the lower troposphere up to the stratosphere. To compare this mountain of data to a few photographs of a single region strains credulity. And in fact, the scientists studying Mars believe the observation described above is the result of a regional change caused by Mars’ own orbital cycles, like what happened during the earth’s glacial cycles

See Global Warming on Mars? from Real Climate for much more detail about this issue.

Turning to the outer reaches of the solar system, what was observed way out there in the ice cold and lonely Kuiper Belt was a difference in Pluto’s atmospheric thickness inferred from two occultation observations 14 years apart. But a cursory glance at Pluto’s orbit and atmosphere reveals how ridiculous it is to draw any conclusions about climate, much less climate change, from any observations spanning much less than even a single season, let alone enough years to even establish what the climate is.

I think anyone trying to draw conclusions about what is happening here on earth from all this might as well be from another planet.

Back to Mars for a quick summary:

On Earth, we have poles melting, surface temperature rising, tropospheric temperatures rising, permafrost melting, glaciers world wide melting, CO2 concentrations increasing, borehole analysis showing warming, sea ice receding, proxy reconstructions showing warming, sea level rising, sea surface temperatures rising, energy imbalance, ice sheets melting and stratosphere cooling which leads us to believe we have global warming driven by an enhanced greenhouse effect.

One Mars we have one spot melting which leads us to believe…one spot is melting.

Forgive me for not being reassured!

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This is just one of dozens of responses to common climate change denial arguments, which can all be found at How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.

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“There’s Global Warming on Mars Too” was first published here, where you can still find the original comment thread. This updated version is also posted on the Grist website, where additional comments can be found, though the author, Coby Beck, does not monitor or respond there.