Planet Mars Isn't Blue

More from Powerline, Time Magazine's Blog of the Year. We agree with Sullywatch that one of the dynamics in the feuding between Andrew Sullivan and other conservatives is his displacement by Powerline as the rabid defender of Dubya. And to the extent that one can rank these things, they are worse. But they're worse because they're stupid. Consider this installment today:

Glenn Reynolds highlighted this item from the Mars Global Surveyor project -- [F]or 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 --

While it is theoretically possible for human and animal activities to affect the climate on Earth, the main factor causing fluctuations in temperatures on this planet, as on Mars, is variability in energy output from the Sun. The Mars Global Surveyor data suggest what I think would be a relatively simple experiment: Why not place thermometers in a few locations on Mars, equipped with radio transmitters that would send temperature data to Earth or to a spacecraft? You'd have to take into account the two planets' different atmospheres, of course; the atmosphere on Mars is thin, but consists almost entirely of carbon dioxide. In time--it would take more than a few years' observations, obviously--such an experiment would settle once and for all the question whether human activities are making a significant contribution to climate variations on Earth.

Claims such as this recur occasionally from the boys, and amidst the problems great and small with the "analysis," here's the most glaring: If your theory is that variation in planetary climates is caused by variation in the Sun's energy, then you don't need to send a thermometer to Mars to confirm it.

The Sun's energy is, like, everywhere, so you just take your measurements from a fixed position relative to the sun and chart them over time. And if you don't want measurements distorted by the Earth's atmosphere, then you put the thermometer in some place with no atmosphere -- what we here on Earth call space -- and take your readings from there. We're sure that the International Space Station could handle this job for us, although we'd have to check with the Russians, since they're the only ones who can get stuff there and back right now.

In the meantime, as the Gulf of Mexico cooks, the Powerline boys would wait while we fly a thermometer to Mars and track a few centuries of readings. They might want to consider putting it instead where the Sun don't shine.

UPDATE: Related content from backword, who does a better job of catching the atmosphere hokum in the Powerline post than we did.