Monstrous dust storms often ravage Mars, engulfing the Red Planet for months. Now, a new study suggests these global storms may be related to a peculiar energy imbalance recently discovered across the Martian surface.
The solar system’s planets and moons absorb energy from the sun, but they also emit energy back into space. The difference between these two is called the radiative energy budget, or REB. “The REB and its spatial distribution [across latitudes] directly influence the thermal characteristics of the surface and atmosphere” of planets, Liming Li, a professor of physics at the University of Houston and the study’s second author, told Live Science via email. This means a planet’s REB determines its climate.
Scientists have studied Earth’s REB in great detail, finding “an energy surplus in the tropics and an energy deficit in the polar regions,” Li said. However, Earth’s annual REB is largely balanced, with the amount of solar energy absorbed roughly balancing the heat radiated over a year’s time (although greenhouse gases are changing this to a tiny net absorption).
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