Global Warming ... but on MARS!

Short snippet, but interesting.
I will make a rash assumption that any warming on Mars is not due to human intervention (spewing of greenhouse gases)

SPACE.com -- Mars Probe Finds New Gullies, Crater at Red Planet:


"The spacecraft also observed a gradual evaporation of carbon dioxide ice in one of Mars’ polar caps, pointing to a slowly changing Mars climate.

“They way these polar pits are retreating is absolutely astounding,” Mustard said.

But like the rockfalls, researchers were unable to account for the gradual climate change.

“Why is Mars warmer today that it was in the past, we really have no way of knowing why,” Malin said."

Some other observations about hurricanes and "Global Warming"
(note : from a "right wing" source)
Interview with the "Dean" of Hurricane predictions
Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Meteorologist Dr. William Gray by James K. Glassman -- Capitalism Magazine

and then :
Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. James J. O'Brien by James K. Glassman -- Capitalism Magazine

"Glassman: Let me just pursue this as far as Katrina is concerned because we certainly heard lots of reports that the reason that Katrina intensified so much when it got into the Gulf of Mexico was that the Gulf itself was very warm, but is that a consequence of global warming?

O’Brien: No, it’s really funny.

Glassman: You’re laughing.

O’Brien: Yes, I laugh because the entire Gulf of Mexico in the summertime in August is over 90 degrees, OK. In other words, if I take the records from the last 50 years and average it out to get what people think is the normal temperature.

Glassman: Right.

O’Brien: It’s always 90 degrees in the summertime, everywhere. So, it was 90 degrees and its always 90 degrees.

Glassman: So, the real problem here was that Katrina was really timing. I mean Katrina was a storm that, unfortunately, spent time in the Gulf of Mexico during the time when the water was hot.

O’Brien: Yes. I don’t know the steering, but however it got disturbed going over the peninsula of Florida. What surprised everybody was when it came out into the Gulf of Mexico, it did this jog to the south. If you remember, it was going southwest for a while and that allowed it to get so far away from land that it had a long way to go before it was going to come back on shore.

Glassman: Sort of a running start.

O’Brien: So yes, it had a – you know, it’s a long distance. It was going about 10 to 15 miles an hour. So it had a long time to gather up, from long distances, all this moisture from this hot water.

Glassman: Now, are you saying that people who study hurricanes do not feel that the reason that Katrina, or any other recent hurricanes, have been so intense is that the surface temperature of the earth has been increasing?

O’Brien: With regard to people who work on hurricanes or are knowledgeable about the tropics – I don’t know of anybody who would think that global warming is causing Katrina."

And more on the Hurricane "Cycle"
Hurricanes and Global Warming: Interview with Dr. Roy Spencer by James K. Glassman -- Capitalism Magazine

"Glassman: You know, I was looking at the National Hurricane Center’s website and they list the 10 most intense hurricanes by barometric pressure. I know you feel we should take those numbers with a grain of salt; but still, these are clearly very intense hurricanes in American history. Now we add Katrina to that. We’ve got 11. Five of these hurricanes occurred between 1900 and 1935 and only two of them have occurred since 1969. I’m just wondering whether there is any evidence that the intensity of storms is increasing in the United States.

Spencer: Well, that brings up a good point – and that is that there is a known natural cycle in hurricane activity. We have been going through a lull in activity for about the past 20 or 30 years. Hurricane Andrew of 1992 was the early wake-up call that we were heading back into a period of greater hurricane frequency. Indeed, as you mentioned, the 1930’s, ‘40’s, ‘50’s – these were the peak periods that had some very intense hurricanes, but of course, there was very little development along the coasts back then.

We’re not seeing anything that different from what occurred 40 or 50 or 60 years ago – which is we’re back now into a more active part of the natural hurricane cycle."