Answer: There is nothing to explain. The all-planets correlation is a myth. We have very little knowledge of the global temperatures of any planets, moons, and other solar system bodies even in the short term, let alone the years that would be required to establish such a correlation. For those we know something about, not all are warming. The “all of Jupiter is warming” myth started from the news that some local areas of Jupiter were warming, resulting in or caused by local storms. Ignored by the mythmakers was the fact that other local areas of Jupiter were cooling. News of Triton warming was selectively repeated by omitting the attendant fact that Triton (with Neptune) was in an unusually intense Summer. Summer lasts a long time there, because Triton (with Neptune) takes 165 Earth years to go around the Sun. So we have to wait a really long time to see if Triton is warming overall–averaged across seasons.

Links to sources, and more details, can be found here, among other places: http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/04/29/is-global-warming-solar-induced/

8.5 millibars! And Venus at 95 bar. This really is prime realestate, I’m sure we’d all agree, for a blessed moment in reflection. Ah, well, glad thats over.

http://spidr.ngdc.noaa.gov/spidr/index.jsp

If cosmic rays (referred to as plasma, which are in simple terms atom particles and pieces) have been shown to be somehow involved in cloud formation, it would seem logical to actively and continuously measure these particles. Now would be the time and place to do exactly that, given that our magnetic field is down.

Maybe meteorologists and climatologists just aren’t interested in chemistry.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRLbX9aY2zFmsynoKE3AJijefD2w

The daily weather reports will include temperature, atmospheric pressure, cloud height, humidity and wind speeds.

“We have a mast that sticks up from the deck of the station and it measures temperatures at three spots on the mast so we can characterize the climate on the surface,” Whiteway said in an interview.

Macdonald, Dettwiler and Associates, the company better known as MDA, is the prime contractor for the weather station, in partnership with Optech International of Vaughan, Ont.

A specially developed Canadian laser instrument known as a “lidar” will be used to track clouds around the landing area.

“We’ll take measurements of clouds and determine how much ice water is actually held within the clouds,” Whiteway said.

“One of the questions for understanding water on Mars is the role that clouds play and that’s the one we will address.”

Hey, at least they appreciate clouds. That’s more than I can say about some climatologists!

There is another form of “dust gauge” that has been used by the MER rovers. They photograph the Sun every day, and by measuring the brightness of the solar disc one gets a direct measurement of the optical depth (tau) of the atmosphere and thereby of the amount of dust in it. This is a very important parameter in Martian meteorology which has a strong effect on both thw temperature and the height(!) of the atmosphere.

Perhaps you might want to explain to NASA how to make a better wind measurement device. But remember it must:

1. be simple
2. be very light
3. work below -100 degrees centigrade
4. require no electrical power
5. require no lubrication
6. work at an atmospheric pressure of 8 mb
7. be insensitive to dust
8. survive >9 g and extreme vibration levels
9. survive about a year in vacuum
10. work for at least 6 months without maintenance or calibration

Lots of luck, guys!

REPLY: I think the big distinction here is the realization now that the “Telltale” wasn’t intended for a meteorological instrument as its primary function. The primary function was to enable the camera to snap a photo, so they could see the wind across the lander, so that they’d know if the robotic arm might likely have soil blown out of the scoop or not while the soil payload was enroute to the inlet chute. If the soil got blown onto the top of the lander, it could clog/disrupt some of it’s systems.

Nasa sent a Weather Rock to Mars!

Too funny.

Remind me why we pay these guys the big bucks?

Weather Rock on Earth – Prices range from free -> $9.99

Nasa Weather Rock – $11.26 million

The laugh you get when realizing Nasa just put a weather rock on mars – Priceless

I wonder if anyone ever told them it was a joke?

Namaste,
Lina

Perhaps the next mission can drop off a sundial and a wind sock.

Seriously, with all the progress in science, a weather rock?