while the inclination of Mar's axis is about the same as earth's, its orbital eccentricity is significantly greater
Mars happens by coincidence to have almost the same obliquity (inclination of the axis) as earth does in the present epoch, but calculations show that Mars's obliquity oscillates?the range of about 10 degrees (peak to peak) over a period of about 2.5 million years for the beat frequency and about 130kyears for the fundmanetal.?
This is compared to an oscillation of only about 2 degrees peak-to-peak for the earth.
It has been hypothesized that Mars undergoes vast shifts in climate because of the obliquity variations.? I haven't kept up with Mars reseearch in he past 4 years or so.? The climate models may have vastly changed in that time.? But I still believe that it is true that we have very little reliable understanding of these details of Mars' climate (and polar cap cycles).
Phil
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Received on Tue Sep 11 17:45:31 2007
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