Scientists have studied the influence of Mars on the Earth's climate

Mars is half the size of Earth and has only a tenth of its mass, but a new study shows that even such a "lightweight" planet significantly affects the orbit and climate cycles that determine the ice ages. This was reported on January 12 by the Science X news portal.

Stephen Kane, a professor of planetary astrophysics at the University of California, Riverside, was initially skeptical about research linking Earth's ancient climatic changes to the gravitational influence of Mars. These studies assumed that the layers of bottom sediments in the oceans reflect the climatic cycles affected by the red planet, despite its small mass and remoteness.

"I knew that Mars had some kind of influence on Earth, but I assumed that it was very insignificant. I thought its gravitational influence was too small to be easily observed in Earth's geological history. I decided to test my own assumptions," Kane shared.

To do this, the scientist conducted computer simulations of the behavior of the Solar system and long-term changes in the Earth's orbit and the tilt of the axis, which determine the distribution of sunlight on the surface of the planet on time scales from tens of thousands to millions of years.

These changes, known as Milankovich cycles, play a key role in understanding the beginning and end of glacial epochs — long periods with permanent ice sheets at the poles. For 4.5 billion years, the Earth has experienced at least five major glacial epochs, the last of which began about 2.6 million years ago and continues to this day.

According to the publication, one of the Milankovich cycles lasting about 430 thousand years is mainly due to the gravity of Venus and Jupiter. It is associated with a change in the shape of the Earth's orbit from almost circular to more elongated and vice versa, which affects the amount of solar energy received. This cycle persisted in Kane's models regardless of the presence of Mars.

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However, when the Red Planet was excluded from the calculations, two other significant cycles of about 100,000 years and 2.3 million years completely disappeared. At the same time, Kane clarified that the cycles become shorter as the mass of Mars increases. They are said to affect the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, the moment of closest approach to the Sun, and the tilt of the axis of rotation, which determine the distribution of solar heat and, as a result, the development of ice ages. The results showed that Mars plays a measurable role in all of these processes.

"The closer a planet is to the Sun, the more strongly it is affected by the Sun's gravity. Because Mars is farther from the Sun, it has a greater gravitational effect on Earth than if it were closer. His influence far exceeds his capabilities," the specialist explained.

It was also unexpected that the mass of Mars affects the rate of change in the tilt of the Earth's axis, which currently stands at about 23.5 degrees. Kane emphasized that as the mass of the red planet increased in the models, the rate of change in the Earth's tilt decreased, and clarified that this had a stabilizing effect.

The study has broader implications. According to Kane, even small outer planets in other star systems can imperceptibly affect the climate and stability of potentially habitable worlds.

The work also raises the question of how life on Earth might have developed otherwise. The ice ages caused the reduction of forests and the expansion of savannahs, which is believed to have contributed to the evolution of walking upright, the use of tools and the development of social cooperation.

On December 29 last year, Science Daily magazine reported the discovery of electric sparks inside Martian dust storms. It was clarified that the characteristic signals were recorded by the microphone of the SuperCam device on board the NASA Perseverance rover. According to the analysis of audio recordings, the signals are both acoustic and electrical in nature.

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