First, it is always better to read the whole article, and not just the title given to it if you are presenting it as "proof" of your point of view. Follow up scientists make Habibullo Abdussamatov sound like a quack in the article.
Comparing Mars with Earth as part of the global warming debate is just smoke and mirrors on the part of those trying to cloud and dispute the debate. After all, bad and contradictory data points work just as well as actual scientific proof does..... better in fact if that contradictory proof does not exist.
We've landed five vehicles successfully onto the Martian surface, all smaller than a VW bug. We've
not gotten core samples from Martian ice caps. We've
not had weather data collected on the Martian surface for the past 200 years. We've
not had detailed, daily, long term weather data collected from points all over the Martian surface for many decades. We've
not had large, sophisticated weather satellites orbiting Mars for fifty years.
There is no where near enough collected data on Mars weather and global cycles to make the statement that Mars is warming up due to solar activity as a solar system wide effect. There is also Mar's orbital parameters to consider as they change over time: Perihelion, Aphelion, Orbit inclination, Orbit eccentricity. Mars does not have the stabilizing effect of a large moon (the "wobble effect" mentioned in the article.
Mar's CO2 atmosphere is very thin even at low elevations, practically a vacuum, what there is is made mostly of carbon dioxide. The surface pressure on Mars is only about 0.7% of the average surface pressure at sea level on Earth. CO2 effects on Mars are not a comparison to Earth's atmosphere.
Even from the quoted article:
The conventional theory is that climate changes on Mars can be explained primarily by small alterations in the planet's orbit and tilt, not by changes in the sun.
"Wobbles in the orbit of Mars are the main cause of its climate change in the current era," Oxford's Wilson explained. (Related: "Don't Blame Sun for Global Warming, Study Says" [September 13, 2006].)
All planets experience a few wobbles as they make their journey around the sun. Earth's wobbles are known as Milankovitch cycles and occur on time scales of between 20,000 and 100,000 years.
These fluctuations change the tilt of Earth's axis and its distance from the sun and are thought to be responsible for the waxing and waning of ice ages on Earth.
Mars and Earth wobble in different ways, and most scientists think it is pure coincidence that both planets are between ice ages right now.
"Mars has no [large] moon, which makes its wobbles much larger, and hence the swings in climate are greater too," Wilson said.
So someone pays a scientist to put his name of a controversial paper, that goes against what
is known about Mars as a means to cloud the global warming issue as it pertains to planet Earth.
The list of
successful Mars missions include:
1964 Mariner 4 US (flyby) Success Returned 21 images
1969 Mariner 6 US (flyby) Success Returned 75 images
1969 Mariner 7 US (flyby) Success Returned 126 images
1971 Mars 3 Orbiter/Lander USSR Success Orbiter obtained approximately 8 months of data and lander landed safely, but only 20 seconds of data
1971 Mariner 9 US Success Returned 7,329 images
1973 Mars 5 USSR Success Returned 60 images; only lasted 9 days
1973 Mars 6 Orbiter/Lander USSR Success/Failure Occultation experiment produced data and Lander failure on descent
1975 Viking 1 Orbiter/Lander US Success Located landing site for Lander and first successful landing on Mars
1975 Viking 2 Orbiter/Lander US Success Returned 16,000 images and extensive atmospheric data and soil experiments
1996 Mars Global Surveyor US Success More images than all Mars Missions
1996 Mars Pathfinder US Success Technology experiment lasting 5 times longer than warranty
2001 Mars Odyssey US Success High resolution images of Mars
2003 Mars Express Orbiter/Beagle 2 Lander ESA Success/Failure Orbiter imaging Mars in detail and lander lost on arrival
2003 Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit US Success Over 70,000 images lasting 8 times longer than warranty
2003 Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity US Success Over 58,000 images lasting 8 times longer than warranty
2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter US Results TBD
