Does Mars Global Warming Rule Out Human Causation?

Question

Since the polar ice caps on Mars are melting, and we have observed the sun to be releasing unusually high energy, can we not conclude that some, if not all of the warming being experienced on our planet is also caused by the sun, and not humans?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html

Answer 1

No. There is far too much money to be extorted from the people of the United States to "fix" global warming, to let a simple little thing like the Sun get in the way.

Answer 2

YES!  The earth axis tilts a few degrees over the years, thats why 40 years ago they were talking about the next ice age, don't be fooled by Al Gore and his bull sh&#.  God made the Earth so humans could inhabit it, I dont think theres much we can do to destroy it unless we're talking about MANY nukes

Answer 3

Don't forget we have sent probes there. I'm sure that has caused some type of pollution.

Answer 4

Not at all.  Solar output has not changed for the past 30 years according to instruments mounted on satellites (see box "What warms and cools the Earth" on page 7 of http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/clim...

Atmospheric compositing, the very thin air (not dense) and orbital cycles of teh planet are just a few of the items nopt control for that must be considered before trying to draw such a conclusion.  We just can't compare other planets to Earth - there are to many unknowns.

A better way to look at climate change on Earth is to use what we can measure (air mass, movement, temperature at different levels of the atmosphere and different locations, orbital cycles of the Earth, atmospheric components, past volcanic activity, solar cycles, etc) and apply the laws of physics to understand how each of theses factors affects climate on the planet.  For a summary see http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.h...

Assuming what you say is fact, it doesn't really tell us much about this planet.  You need to post references to support your statement.

Answer 5

No, if you read the article you realize that this scientist claiming that its all due to solar irradiance doesn't take into account greenhouse gases as much as he should.  Also saying that Milankovitch cycles are the driver for our current warming would be relatively unbelievable.  These cycles occur on time scales of 20,000 to 100,000 which would mean that our period of warming of 100 years would not fit into these HUGE time scales.  Solar irradiance has shown to be a small contributor to our warming(sources 1 & 2).

Answer 6

Read the IPCC report.  You will find that the non-human forces are being measured and considered as much as possible.  Sun spots are indeed one factor in global warming, but the affect is a small fraction of what the greenhouse gasses are doing.

Answer 7

The quoted Russian scientist Habibullo Abdussamatov isn't even supported by his own Russian National Academy of Sciences, which signed the following in 2007.  

http://www.nationalacademies.org/include...

"It is unequivocal that the climate is changing, and it is very likely that this is predominantly caused by the increasing human interference with the atmosphere."

Now if you could post an actual NASA source stating that mars is experiencing "global warming" (vs. regional short-term fluctuations), then you might have something.  But all you're really posted is an opinion piece.

Here's what one NASA researcher says about this web-based misunderstanding of mars warming:

http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate...

"Through blogs and other opinion pieces it has been used, both amusingly and disturbingly, to argue that Mars' apparent natural warming should alleviate our concerns about anthropomorphic climate change on Earth"

And here's a more detailed NASA paper on it:

http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/~fenton/pdf/...

I think my NASA, American Geophysical Union, and National Academy of Sciences links trump your National Geographic link in the credibility department.  But just to provide balance, here's a National Geographic link to counter yours:

Don't Blame Sun for Global Warming

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

Answer 8

Not in the least.  See Myth #4 at the link below for an explanation.  Your statements are incorrect.

*edit* I wrote the wiki myself.  I know it's accurate because I got the information from reliable scientific sources.  You can read them yourself by clicking the links within the wiki.

Also, the website doen't even sell *anything*.  It's an informational website, not a sales website.

Try reading the information rather than dismissing it offhand and engaging in ad hominem attacks.  When you attack the host website and ignore the content, it's a sure sign of a biased and closed mind.

Answer 9

brainwashing is hard to over come gonna need something a little more definite like al gore saying global warming doesn't exist anything short of that and we'll continue believing in global warming

Answer 10

We know comparatively little about Mars climate compared to Earth's to know for sure whether it's warming or cooling.  One thing is for sure, though, just because something is happening on Mars does not mean the same thing is happening on Earth. Let's say someone died from heat stroke a few blocks away from your house at about the same time your neighbor died.  Would you conclude that your neighbor also died from heat stroke if a bullet was found in his head? I don't think so, but that's essentially the same argument you're making with respect to Mars. Identical end results do not necessarily imply the same causes.

Answer 11

Mars is entirely different atmospherically and apparently uninhabited so - no.

There is no doubt that climate changes whether the people are here or not.  The issue is that earth's climate is changing at a much, much faster rate than it normally would because of the polution and waste we humans perpetuate every day.

Answer 12

There is no significant man made global warming. There has not been any in the past, there is none now and there is no reason to fear any in the future. The climate of Earth is changing. It has always changed. But mankind’s activities have not overwhelmed or significantly modified the natural forces.

Through all history, Earth has shifted between two basic climate regimes: ice ages and what paleoclimatologists call “Interglacial periods”. For the past 10 thousand years the Earth has been in an interglacial period. That might well be called nature’s global warming because what happens during an interglacial period is the Earth warms up, the glaciers melt and life flourishes. Clearly from our point of view, an interglacial period is greatly preferred to the deadly rigors of an ice age. Mr. Gore and his crowd would have us believe that the activities of man have overwhelmed nature during this interglacial period and are producing an unprecedented, out of control warming.

Well, it is simply not happening. Worldwide there was a significant natural warming trend in the 1980’s and 1990’s as a Solar cycle peaked with lots of sunspots and solar flares. That ended in 1998 and now the Sun has gone quiet with fewer and fewer Sun spots, and the global temperatures have gone into decline. Earth has cooled for almost ten straight years. So, I ask Al Gore, where’s the global warming? And why are there other planets in our solar system that are warming as well?

It's only natural.