Temperatures on Mars are a cold mystery. Temperature on Mars

Mars- this is a harsh, cold world, the conditions of which are very different from those we are used to. Despite the fact that the Sun (when viewed from the surface of Mars) appears here only slightly smaller than when observed from Earth, in fact Mars is located at a distance from it, that is, much further than our planet (149.5 million km .). Accordingly, this planet receives a quarter less solar energy than the Earth.

However, distance from the Sun is only one of the reasons why the planet Mars is a cold planet. The second reason is that it is too thin, consisting of 95% carbon dioxide, and unable to retain enough heat.

Why is atmosphere so important? Because for our (and any other) planet, it serves as a kind of “thermal underwear” or “blanket” that prevents the surface from cooling too quickly. Now imagine that if on Earth, with its very dense atmosphere, in winter the temperature drops in some regions to -50-70 degrees Celsius, how cold it must be on Mars, whose blanket-atmosphere is 100 times thinner than the earth’s!

Snow on Mars - a landscape as seen by one of the rovers on the surface of the red planet. To be honest, here in Yakutia I saw exactly the same landscapes

Temperature on Mars day and night

So, Mars is a lifeless and cold planet, due to its thin atmosphere, completely deprived of the chance to ever “warm up”. However, what temperature is typically observed in Martian conditions?

Average temperature on Mars is something around minus 60 degrees Celsius. So that you understand how cold it is, here’s food for thought: on Earth the average temperature is +14.8 degrees, so yes, it’s very, very “cool” on Mars. In winter, near the poles, temperatures on Mars can drop to -125 degrees Celsius, regardless of the time of day. On a summer day, near the equator, the planet is relatively warm: up to +20 degrees, but at night the thermometer will drop again to -73. You can’t say anything - the conditions are simply extreme!

As temperatures drop, particles of carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere freeze and fall as frost, covering the planet's surface and rocks like snow. Martian “snow” bears little resemblance to terrestrial snow, because its snowflakes are no larger in size than red blood cells in human blood. Rather, such “snow” resembles a thin fog that settles on the surface of the planet as it freezes. However, as soon as the Martian morning comes, and the planet’s atmosphere begins to warm up, carbon dioxide will again turn into a volatile compound, and again cover everything around with a white fog until it evaporates completely.

The ice caps of Mars are visible even from the ground in a good telescope.

Seasons (seasons) on Mars

Like our planet, Mars' axis is slightly inclined relative to the plane, which in turn means that, just like on Earth, Mars has 4 seasons, or seasons. However, due to the fact that the orbit of Mars around the Sun does not resemble an even circle, but is slightly shifted to the side relative to the center (the sun), the length of the Martian seasons is also uneven.

So, in the northern hemisphere of the planet, the longest season is spring, which lasts as many as seven on Mars earthly months. Summer And autumn about six months, but the Martian winter is the shortest time of the year, lasting only four months.

During the Martian summer, the planet's polar ice cap, made mostly of carbon dioxide, shrinks significantly in size and may disappear altogether. However, even a short but unusually cold Martian winter is enough to build it up again. If there is water somewhere on Mars, then most likely you need to look for it at the pole, where it is trapped under a layer of frozen carbon dioxide.

“We have rubbish weather on Mars!” - this is what was said in one poem about astronauts, composed at a time when there was still an aura of romance... But really, what kind of weather does it have on the “red planet”?

When we talk about weather on Earth, we primarily mean the state of the atmosphere. On Mars it is also there - but not like ours. The fact is that Mars, unlike Earth, does not have a magnetic field that would hold the atmosphere - and the solar wind (a flow of ionized particles from the solar corona) destroys it. Therefore, the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the planet is 160 times lower than on Earth. This cannot protect the planet from daily temperature fluctuations (since it does not prevent the radiation of thermal energy into space), therefore at the equator the air temperature, rising to +30 °C during the day, drops to -80 °C at night, and at the poles it is even lower - to -143 °C.

But what is very similar for our planets is the angle of inclination of the rotation axis, “responsible” for the change of seasons on the planet (for Earth it is 23.439281, and for Mars it is 25.19, as you can see - not such a big difference ), therefore there is also a change of seasons on Mars - only they last twice as long (after all, the Martian year is almost 2 times longer than the Earth's - 687 Earth days). There are also climatic zones; seasons vary from hemisphere to hemisphere.

So, in the northern hemisphere, winter comes when Mars is closest to the Sun, and in the southern hemisphere, when it moves away, in the summer everything happens the other way around. Therefore, winter in the northern hemisphere is shorter and warmer than in the southern hemisphere, and summer is longer but colder.

But most noticeable (at least to an observer from the ground) is the change of seasons in the polar regions covered with ice caps. They never completely disappear, but their size changes. In winter, the distance from the south pole to the boundary of the southern polar cap is equal to half the distance to the equator, and at the north pole - a third of this distance. With the arrival of spring, the polar caps become smaller, “retreating” towards the poles. At the same time, “dry ice” (frozen carbon dioxide), which makes up the upper layer of the ice caps, evaporates, and in a gaseous state is transported by the wind to the opposite pole, where at this time winter sets in - and (therefore, the cap grows at the opposite pole).

On Earth, when interested in the weather forecast, we first of all ask ourselves: will it rain? So, on Mars there is no need to be afraid of rain - at such low atmospheric pressure, liquid water cannot exist. But snow does happen. Thus, snow fell on Mars in 1979 in the area where the Viking 2 spacecraft landed, and did not melt for quite a long time - several months.

In lowlands, crater floors and canyons there is often fog during the cold season, and water vapor present in the atmosphere forms clouds.

But what we should be wary of on Mars (if we ever go there) are hurricane-force winds, tornadoes and dust storms. Wind speeds of up to 100 m/s are common on Mars, and due to the low gravity, the winds kick up huge amounts of dust into the air.

The largest dust storms originate in the southern hemisphere of Mars in the spring (when the planet warms up quickly) - and can drag on for a long time and cover vast areas. So, from September 1971 to January 1972, a dust storm raged on Mars, engulfing the entire planet - about a billion tons of dust was raised to a 10-kilometer height. This storm almost disrupted the mission of the Mariner 9 spacecraft - due to the dense dust veil, the surface of the planet was impossible to observe. The Mariner computer had to delay the photography (and still no one could vouch for its success - after all, it was impossible to predict when the storm would stop).

There are also “dust devils” on Mars - vortices that lift dust and sand into the air. On Earth, such a phenomenon occurs in deserts, but Mars is all desert, and such a dust devil can occur anywhere.

As you can see, the climate of Mars is really not very favorable. And in order for “apple trees to bloom” there, you will have to either change the planet very much, or wait for nature to do it... In any case, mass settlement of Mars is unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future.

This page provides all the wealth of meteorological data that the Mars rover (Curiosity) transmits to.

The table is updated when the page is loaded, and weather data on Mars is updated as information is transmitted from the Curiosity rover.

Parameter	Meaning
date
Sol (Martian day)
Solar longitude
Minimum temperature in degrees
Minimum temperature in Fahrenheit
Maximum temperature in degrees
Maximum temperature in Fahrenheit
Pressure Pa
Pressure value
Absolute humidity*
Wind speed *
Direction of the wind *
Atmospheric transparency
Current month
Sunrise
Sunset

* Explanations: if the value is null, there is no data. The value "- -" means no wind.

The data on the “Weather on Mars” page was obtained by the Rover environmental monitoring station (REMS). The data themselves are published by the organization Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA) Spain.

Seasons on Mars

The planet has the same four seasons as Earth, but because the year on Mars is longer, the axial tilt is slightly different and the orbit is more eccentric, the seasons on Mars are not of equal length.

The Martian year is almost twice as long as the Earth year (1.88 Earth years) and the seasons last longer accordingly. In the northern hemisphere, spring lasts 7 months, summer - 6 months, autumn - 5.3 months, and winter - just over 4 months. Even in the summer months the planet is very cold. The temperature at the height of the season does not exceed -20 C. In the south, the temperature can reach 30 C. Strong temperature fluctuations between hemispheres cause huge dust storms. Some of them can only affect a small area, while others cover the entire planet. Planetary storms usually occur when a planet is near perihelion (closest point to the Sun). When a global dust storm begins, the surface of the planet is almost completely hidden.

Mars is further from the Sun than Earth, so, as you would expect, temperatures on Mars are colder. For the most part, the planet is very cold. The only exceptions are summer days at the equator. Even at the equator, temperatures on the planet Mars drop below zero at night. On summer days, during the day it can be around 20 degrees Celsius, but at night it drops to -90 C.

Orbit

Mars has a highly elliptical orbit, so the temperature changes quite a bit as the planet orbits the Sun. Since it has an axis tilt similar to Earth’s (25.19 on Mars, and 26.27 on Earth), the planet has seasons. Add to this a thin atmosphere, and you can understand why the planet is unable to retain heat. The Martian atmosphere consists of more than 96% carbon dioxide. If the planet were able to retain an atmosphere, then carbon dioxide would cause a greenhouse effect that would warm it.

Traces of water erosion, image from Mars Odyssey

Orbiters have transmitted images that indicate erosion caused by liquid water. This indicates that Mars was once significantly warmer and wetter. Erosion has not disappeared because there is currently no liquid water or plate tectonics to greatly alter the landscape. There is wind, but it is not strong enough to change the surface.

The importance of a warm climate

The presence of warm weather and liquid water is important for several reasons. One of them is that liquid water is essential for the evolution of life. Some scientists still believe that microbial life exists deep below the surface, where it is warmer and water can exist in liquid form.

Colonization

If humans ever colonize the planet, they must have sources of water. The manned mission will take about two years, and the amount of cargo on board the ship will be limited. One solution is that water ice could be melted and then purified, but finding liquid water would be even more practical.

Temperature is a minor obstacle to early human exploration of the planet, while the availability of water is much more significant. All we have to do is find a way to get to Mars and back without having to spend two years in cramped spacecraft.

	· · · ·

The climate on Mars, although unfavorable for life, is still closest to that on Earth. Presumably in the past climate of Mars could have been warmer and more humid, with liquid water present on the surface and even raining.

Mars is the most likely target for the first manned mission to another planet.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 3

✪ Climate of Planet Mars | What is the Temperature of Mars

✪ Vladimir Dovbush: Discussing the causes of global climate change

✪ Mysterious Mars

Subtitles

Atmospheric composition

The atmosphere of Mars is more rarefied than the air shell of the Earth, and consists of 95.9% carbon dioxide, about 1.9% nitrogen and 2% argon. Oxygen content 0.14%. The average atmospheric pressure on the surface is 160 times less than that of the Earth's surface.

The mass of the atmosphere changes greatly throughout the year due to condensation in winter and evaporation in summer, large volumes of carbon dioxide at the poles, in the polar caps.

Clouds and precipitation

There is very little water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, but at low pressure and temperature it is in a state close to saturation and often collects in clouds. Martian clouds are rather featureless compared to those on Earth.

Research conducted by the Mariner 4 spacecraft in 1965 showed that there is currently no liquid water on Mars, but data from NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers indicate the presence of water in the past. On July 31, 2008, ice water was discovered on Mars at the landing site of NASA's Phoenix spacecraft. The device discovered ice deposits directly in the ground.

There are several facts to support the claim that water was present on the planet's surface in the past. Firstly, minerals were found that could only be formed as a result of prolonged exposure to water. Secondly, very old craters have been practically erased from the face of Mars. The modern atmosphere could not cause such destruction. A study of the rate of formation and erosion of craters made it possible to establish that wind and water destroyed them most strongly about 3.5 billion years ago. Many ravines are approximately the same age.

NASA announced on September 28, 2015 that seasonal flows of liquid salt water currently exist on Mars. These formations manifest themselves in the warm season and disappear in the cold season. Planetary scientists came to their conclusions by analyzing high-quality images obtained by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) scientific instrument of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Temperature

The average temperature on Mars is much lower than on Earth - about −40°C. Under the most favorable conditions in summer, on the daytime half of the planet, the atmosphere warms up to 20°C - a completely acceptable temperature for the inhabitants of the Earth. But on a winter night the frost can reach −125°C. At winter temperatures, even carbon dioxide freezes, turning into dry ice. Such sudden temperature changes are caused by the fact that the thin atmosphere of Mars is not able to retain heat for a long time. As a result of numerous temperature measurements at various points on the surface of Mars, it turns out that during the day at the equator the temperature can reach +27°C, but by the morning it drops to −50°C.

There are temperature oases on Mars; in the areas of the Phoenix “lake” (solar plateau) and the land of Noah, the temperature difference ranges from −53°C to +22°C in summer and from −103°C to −43°C in winter. Thus, Mars is a very cold world, but the climate there is not much harsher than in Antarctica.

Climate of Mars, 4.5ºS, 137.4ºE (from 2012 to today)
Index	Jan.	Feb.	March	Apr.	May	June	July	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Year
Absolute maximum, °C	6	6	1	0	7	23	30	19	7	7	8	8	30
Average maximum, °C	−7	−18	−23	−20	−4	0	2	1	1	4	−1	−3	−5,7
Average minimum, °C	−82	−86	−88	−87	−85	−78	−76	−69	−68	−73	−73	−77	−78,5
Absolute minimum, °C	−95	−127	−114	−97	−98	−125	−84	−80	−78	−79	−83	−110	−127