A Plea For Immediate Action
We here at Blue Crab Boulevard want to go on record as being the first to call for immediate action. We demand that Al Gore carry his message about global warming to Mars at once, before the polar ice cap there disappears entirely.
Shifting dust storms on Mars might be contributing to global warming there that is shrinking the planet's southern polar ice caps, scientists say.
Computer simulations similar to those used to predict weather here on Earth show that the bright, windblown dust and sand particles affects Mars’ albedo—the amount of sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface.
The research, detailed in the March 5 issue of the journal Nature, suggests these albedo variations play an important role in the climate of Mars. It could also potentially explain how global dust storms are triggered on the red planet.
A darkening world
Researchers from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey fed two albedo maps of the Martian surface into a computer model called the Mars general circulation model (MGCM).
The model calculated the surface temperature and wind intensity on Mars at the times the maps were made. Both maps show the same area on Mars, but one was made using Viking data collected in the late 1970s, while the other was created with Mars Global Surveyor data collected in recent years.
Across the past two decades, the model showed the surface temperature of Mars has increased by about 0.65 degrees Celsius (1.17 degrees Fahrenheit).
This demands immediate sacrifice on the part of the Martians. Surrender all your electricity to Gorezilla at once. We here at Blue Crab Boulevard are opening a fund-raising drive to collect enough cash to entice Al Gore into journeying to Mars right away. We're kicking in that 37 cents we found in the sofa cushions.
</humor> Now, shouldn't it make you go, "Hmmmmm?" that the Martian global average temperature has risen almost exactly the same amount as the Earth's temperature has? The First Church of the Presumptuous Assumption of Global Warming™ has a bit of 'splaining to do here, I think.
Environment, Insanity, Science, Space | Gaius Wednesday, 4 April , 2007
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Blue Crab Boulevard » More Things To Make You Go, “Hmmmmmm?” — Wednesday, 4 April , 2007 @ 3:42 pm
By tabitharuth, Wednesday, 4 April , 2007 @ 2:56 pm
Wait–we could clean up on selling Marian carbon credits! That Marvin the Martian guy seems to use a lot of energy trying to blow up the earth, I’m sure he’s worth big bucks.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 4 April , 2007 @ 3:03 pm
I think Duck Dodgers took his wallet the last time they met, though.
By Former Republican, Wednesday, 4 April , 2007 @ 4:57 pm
It is difficult for a layman to make judgments on an issue like global warming. What you read in the media and on the Web is usually propaganda, from one side or the other. Good propaganda is almost always literally true but not the whole truth. It might for example pick out a fact (warming on Mars) and draw a conclusion that seems plausible but isn’t in fact valid. Gaius, since you like blue crabs, you may be near Washington, D.C. The American Meteorlogical Society has panel discussions every month on Capitol Hill, usually in the Russell Senate Office Building. http://www.ametsoc.org/atmospolicy/EnvironmentalScienceSeminarSeries.html The sessions are free and open to the public, with no reservation required. The subject is often some aspect of global warming. If your mind is at all open, you might attend, and listen to what real scientists think. The audience is usually not much more than a hundred people, so it is quite practical to ask questions.