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Mars Orbiter Sees Changes
pin_gween writes "The long-lived Mars Global Surveyor (8 yrs and flying) has enabled scientists to see changes in the surface of Mars. From the article: 'New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress.' The probe's primary mission ended in 2001 and scientists are hopeful the orbiter's life can be extended for another 5 -10 years."
"I doubt the sun has THAT much influence"
WTF? It's practically the only thing heating up these planets in the first place. What could possibly have more of an impact on global temperatures than the sun?
Studies of earth based photos/images and drawings over decades have also suggested the South Polar Cap has been shrinking for a couple of decades. Nice to see the MO data supports this.
Those of us who image and track Mars with amatuer telescopes have known this for quite a long time.
Currently, the North Polar Hood, a blank of clouds that form over the north polar area during the start of the Martian winter has become larger and more complex then any of us have seen going back to the 1950's.
I've just always found it amazing most pro global warming folks toss aside with little worry solar effects. Measuring solar energy output is not very easy and hasn't been done over long periods of time.