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The temperature on the planets of the solar system. What is the temperature on Mars? Mars temperature in summer

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The planet Mars has an equatorial diameter of 6787 km, i.e., 0.53 terrestrial. The polar diameter is slightly smaller than the equatorial (6753 km) due to polar compression equal to 1/191 (against 1/298 at the Earth). Mars rotates around its axis in much the same way as the Earth: its rotation period is 24 hours. 37 minutes 23 sec., Which is only 41 minutes. 19 sec longer than the Earth's rotation period. The axis of rotation is inclined to the orbital plane at an angle of 65 °, almost equal to the angle of inclination of the earth's axis (66 °, 5). This means that the change of day and night, as well as the change of seasons on Mars proceed almost the same as on Earth. There are climatic zones similar to Earth: tropical (latitude of the tropics ± 25 °), two temperate and two polar (latitude of the polar circles ± 65 °).

However, due to the remoteness of Mars from the Sun and the rarefied atmosphere, the planet’s climate is much more severe than the Earth’s. The year of Mars (687 Earth days or 668 Martian days) is almost twice as long as the Earth, which means that the seasons also last longer. Due to the large eccentricity of the orbit (0.09), the duration and nature of the seasons of Mars are different in the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet.

Thus, in the northern hemisphere of Mars, summers are long but cool, and winters are short and mild (Mars is close to perihelion at that time), while in the southern hemisphere summers are short but warm and winters are long and harsh. On the disk of Mars in the middle of the XVII century. dark and light areas were noticed. In 1784

V. Herschel drew attention to seasonal changes in the size of white spots at the poles (polar caps). In 1882, the Italian astronomer J. Schiaparelli compiled a detailed map of Mars and gave a system of names of the details of its surface; highlighting among the dark spots the "sea" (in Latin mare), "lakes" (lacus), "bays" (sinus), "swamps" (palus), "straits" (freturn), "sources" (fens), " capes "(promontorium) and" areas "(regio). All these terms were, of course, purely conditional.

The temperature regime on Mars looks like this. In the daytime hours at the equator, if Mars is near perihelion, the temperature can rise to + 25 ° C (about 300 ° K). But already in the evening it falls to zero and lower, and during the night the planet cools even more, because the rarefied dry atmosphere of the planet cannot retain the heat received from the Sun during the day.

The average temperature on Mars is much lower than on Earth, about -40 ° С. Under the most favorable conditions, in the summer on the daytime half of the planet the air warms up to 20 ° С - a quite acceptable temperature for the inhabitants of the Earth. But on a winter night, frost can reach up to -125 ° C. At a winter temperature, even carbon dioxide freezes, turning into dry ice. Such sharp temperature changes are caused by the fact that the rarefied atmosphere of Mars is not able to retain heat for a long time. The first measurements of the temperature of Mars using a thermometer placed at the focus of the reflector telescope were carried out in the early 1920s. Measurements of W. Lampland in 1922 gave an average surface temperature of Mars of -28 ° С, E. Pettit and S. Nicholson received -13 ° С in 1924. A lower value was obtained in 1960. W. Sinton and J. Strong: -43 ° C. Later, in the 50s and 60s. Numerous temperature measurements were accumulated and generalized at various points on the surface of Mars, at different seasons and times of the day. From these measurements it followed that during the day at the equator the temperature can reach + 27 ° C, but by the morning it can reach -50 ° C.

The Viking spacecraft, after landing on Mars, measured the temperature near the surface. Despite the fact that summer was in the southern hemisphere at that time, the temperature of the atmosphere near the surface the temperature in the morning was - 160 ° С, but by mid-day it rose to -30 ° С. The atmospheric pressure at the surface of the planet is 6 millibars (i.e., 0.006 atmospheres). Above the continents (deserts) of Mars, clouds of fine dust are constantly worn, which is always lighter than the rocks from which it is formed. Dust and increases the brightness of the continents in red rays.

Under the influence of winds and tornadoes, dust on Mars can rise into the atmosphere and stay in it for quite some time. Strong dust storms were observed in the southern hemisphere of Mars in 1956, 1971 and 1973. As shown by spectral observations in infrared rays, in the atmosphere of Mars (as in the atmosphere of Venus), the main component is carbon dioxide (C03). A long search for oxygen and water vapor at first did not give reliable results, and then it was found that oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars is not more than 0.3%.

Foreign researchers of Mars were surprised by the abnormally warm spring. Russian scientists have been aware of this since 2002

The red planet does not cease to amaze earthlings. Recently, the Curiosity rover found river gravel there, a pyramidal stone, transmitted a photo of a beautiful solar eclipse to Earth ... And, according to Spanish researchers, who put their temperature sensors on the rover, Mars unusually warmed up to +6. For the Martian spring that is being observed there, it’s just a resort. Salvador Dali's compatriots say that if the trend continues, then talk about colonization will become more than real. But is it really warmer on Mars than before? What would earthlings see if they were now on this planet? MK found out by talking to Russian scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Some of them have recently returned from an international conference in Madrid.

So, the REMS weather station, installed on board the Curiosity rover, found that the spring that arrived on Mars was unexpectedly warm. At least that’s how the news came from representatives of the scientific team managing the work of the rover. According to scientists, in particular Felipe Gomez from the Spanish Center for Astrobiology, the warmth on Mars really surprised him and his colleagues ...

The place of landing of Curiosity on August 6 was the descent of Bradbury in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet. Since the Martian spring is approaching there, scientists are closely monitoring its features. According to them, from the moment of landing in half of the cases, the daily temperature measured by the REMS station was above zero. Thus, the average daily temperature was +6 degrees during the day and −70 degrees at night. This surprised scientists who, in their own words, expected a colder Martian day. “The fact that Mars is so“ warm ”during daylight hours in itself surprised and interested us. If this warming continues until the onset of summer, then we will see temperatures of +20 or more, which is great if you look at Mars from the point of view of colonization. It is likely that daytime temperatures will be able to maintain water in a liquid state. But it’s difficult to talk about whether such temperatures are the norm or just an anomaly, ”continued Gomez.

We asked the staff of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences to solve the Gomez problem.

- The indicated temperatures are the norm for the Martian spring. In general, the weather there is very stable, we can predict it much more accurately than on Earth. And all because there is no turbulence on Mars (irregular mutual movements in the atmosphere), ”explains Associate Professor of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Senior Researcher, IKI RAS Alexander RODIN.

- Why, then, the spring warmth surprised the Spaniards?

“They are on the rise now, because their Center of Astrobiology has installed their weather sensors on Curiosity,” and at any opportunity, they are looking for a reason to talk about the weather. What Felipe Gomez, who is more an official from science than a researcher, said, of course, an exaggeration. The Spanish sensors could detect some slight increase in temperature, but it does not indicate a serious trend.

According to Rodin, a global dust storm could lead to a slight warming (such occur on Mars 1-2 times a year just at a time when spring or summer is in the southern hemisphere). However, these storms are so powerful that they cover their entire planet with a train for 100-150 days. And since dust absorbs the sun's rays and turns their energy into heat, on Mars during such storms the average daily temperature can increase. The origin of such storms is today a mystery to meteorologists. Apart from the storms, the weather on Mars is almost always stable and predictable. Due to the very thin atmosphere, daytime heat quickly disappears - and at night the surface of the planet can cool immediately by 100 degrees. The average daily temperature on Mars is almost always −50 degrees. However, in the hottest spots, the daytime temperature can reach +20 ... 30 degrees in the summer.

By the way, the words of Rodin are also confirmed by the head of the laboratory of space gamma spectroscopy Igor MITROFANOV, He is also the developer of the Russian HAND instrument, which is now working on board the American Martian satellite Mars Odyssey.

“HAND has been 'observing' seasonal processes on the Red Planet for about 5 Martian years continuously since February 2002,” says Mitrofanov. - We record the thickness of the winter cover of “dry snow” from atmospheric carbon dioxide in the northern and southern hemispheres. Until now, we measured the seasonal profile of the accumulation and evaporation of the Martian “dry snow” surprisingly accurately repeats every Martian year. This year is no exception. In the southern hemisphere of Mars, an ordinary Martian spring sets in. On a summer day at the equator of Mars, the surface temperature can reach +30 degrees Celsius (read as we have in Moscow).

By the way, according to Mitrofanov, if people landed on Mars in spring, they would have been waiting for an amazing sight here - carbon dioxide geysers.

Spring geysers on Mars.

“In the spring, on our Earth, snow melts and turns into water,” says Igor Mitrofanov. - Therefore, streams flow on Earth in spring. And on Mars, snow consists of frozen carbon dioxide, and when the temperature rises, it turns into carbon dioxide. This happens as follows: spring sun rays penetrate the snow cover and warm the surface of the soil. As a result, carbon dioxide appears under a layer of dry snow, which gradually accumulates in the surface space. The gas pressure increases, and somewhere in the upper layer of “dry snow” a crack forms through which the accumulated gas suddenly bursts to the surface with noise. This is the nature of spring Martian geysers.

What else was said at the conference in Madrid

Polar vortices, very reminiscent of Venusian ones, have been discovered on Titan. Since the atmospheres on these planets move faster than the planets themselves, vortices are very powerful, long-lasting formations. The fact of the discovery of vortices on Titan allows scientists to understand the commonality of the laws of nature acting on different planets.

Among exoplanets (planets located outside the solar system) similar to the Earth has not yet been found. On the other hand, Super Earths were discovered, whose mass is 10 times the mass of our planet. True, they are more likely to resemble Venus.

Though mars climate closest to earthly, it is not very favorable for life.

The atmosphere of this planet is more discharged in comparison with the atmosphere of the Earth. It contains ninety-five percent carbon dioxide, four percent nitrogen and argon, and only one percent oxygen and water vapor.

Compared to Earth's average atmospheric pressure on Mars is one hundred sixty times less. Due to evaporation in the summer and condensation in the winter, as well as a large amount of carbon dioxide at the poles, in the polar caps, the mass of the atmosphere varies greatly throughout the year.

Despite the fact that the Martian atmosphere contains very little water vapor, it at low temperature and pressure, being in a state close to saturation, often gathers in clouds. Observations by spacecraft have shown that there are wavy, cirrus and leeward clouds on Mars.

In the cold season, fogs often stand at the bottom of craters and over lowlands. Thin snow sometimes falls.

Studies conducted by spacecraft have shown that there is currently no liquid water on Mars, but there is evidence of its presence in the past. In July 2008, NASA Phoenix spacecraft detected water in ice in the ground. The average temperature on Mars is about -40 degrees Celsius. On the daytime half of the planet, in summer the temperature rises to 20 degrees Celsius, but in winter the night temperature can drop to -125 degrees Celsius.

The rarefied atmosphere of Mars cannot retain heat for a long time, and this explains the sharp changes in temperature. Thus, we can say that Mars has a rather harsh climate, but it is not much colder there than in Antarctica.

Due to the temperature difference on Mars, strong winds often blow. Their speed reaches one hundred meters per second. Due to its low gravity, winds raise huge clouds of dust. On Mars, continuous dust storms often rage. For example, one of them raged from September 1971 to January 1972 and raised about a billion tons of dust into the atmosphere to a height of ten kilometers. The temperature drop is also associated with the formation of dust tornadoes on Mars.

The axis of rotation of the Earth is tilted to the orbital plane by 23.4 degrees, and Mars by 23.9 degrees, the Martian day almost coincides with the Earth, therefore on Mars, like on Earth, there is a change of seasons. In the polar regions, seasonal changes are most pronounced. In winter, polar caps occupy a large area. Winter in the southern hemisphere is long and cold, and in the northern hemisphere short and relatively mild. In the spring, polar caps are significantly reduced, but even in the summer they do not disappear completely. And the summer on Mars in the southern hemisphere is short and relatively warm, in the northern - long and cool.

Now Mars has a dry and cold climate (left), but in the early stages of the evolution of the planet, most likely there was liquid water and a dense atmosphere (right).

Study of

Observation history

Current observations

Weather

Temperature

The average temperature on Mars is much lower than on Earth: −63 ° C. Since the atmosphere of Mars is very thin, it does not smooth out daily fluctuations in surface temperature. Under the most favorable conditions, in the summer, on the daytime half of the planet, the air warms up to 20 ° C (and at the equator - up to +27 ° C) - a quite acceptable temperature for the inhabitants of the Earth. The maximum air temperature recorded by the Spirit rover was +35 ° C. But winter at night, frost can reach even at the equator from −80 ° C to −125 ° C, and at the poles the night temperature can drop to −143 ° C. However, the diurnal temperature fluctuations are not so significant as on the atmosphereless Moon and Mercury. On Mars, there are temperature oases, in the areas of the "lake" Phoenix (plateau of the Sun) and lands of Noah the temperature difference is from −53 ° C to + 22 ° C in the summer and from −103 ° C to −43 ° C in the winter. Thus, Mars is a very cold world, the climate there is much harsher than in Antarctica.

*Climate of Mars, 4.5ºS, 137.4ºE (from 2012 to today [ when?])*
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
Source: Centro de Astrobiología, Weather Twitter of the Martian Science Laboratory

Atmosphere pressure

The atmosphere of Mars is more rarefied than the air shell of the Earth, and more than 95% consists of carbon dioxide, and the content of oxygen and water is a fraction of a percent. The average atmospheric pressure at the surface is on average 0.6 kPa or 6 mbar, which is 160 less than the Earth’s or equal to Earth’s at an altitude of almost 35 km from the Earth’s surface). Atmospheric pressure undergoes strong daily and seasonal changes.

Cloudiness and precipitation

Water vapor in the Martian atmosphere is not more than one thousandth of a percent, however, according to recent (2013) studies, it is still more than previously expected, and more than in the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, and at low pressure and temperature it is in a state close to saturation; therefore, it often gathers in clouds. As a rule, water clouds form at altitudes of 10-30 km above the surface. They are concentrated mainly at the equator and are observed almost throughout the year. Clouds observed at high atmospheric levels (more than 20 km) are formed as a result of CO 2 condensation. The same process is responsible for the formation of low (at an altitude of less than 10 km) clouds of polar regions in the winter, when the temperature of the atmosphere drops below the freezing point of CO 2 (-126 ° C); in the summer, similar thin formations of H 2 O ice form

Condensation formations are also represented by fogs (or haze). They often stand over lowlands - canyons, valleys - and at the bottom of craters in the cold.

Snowstorms can occur in the atmosphere of Mars. In 2008, the Phoenix rover observed virgu in the polar regions - precipitation under clouds, evaporating not reaching the planet surface. According to initial estimates, the rate of rainfall in the virgin was very low. However, recent (2017) modeling of Martian atmospheric phenomena showed that at mid-latitudes, where there is a regular change of day and night, after sunset, the clouds cool sharply, and this can lead to blizzards, the particle speed during which in reality can reach 10 m /with. Scientists admit that strong winds combined with low clouds (usually Martian clouds form at an altitude of 10-20 km) can lead to snow falling on the surface of Mars. This phenomenon is similar to terrestrial microbursts - squalls from a descending wind at a speed of up to 35 m / s, often associated with thunderstorms.

Snow was indeed observed repeatedly. So, in the winter of 1979, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Viking-2 landing, a thin layer of snow fell, which lay for several months.

Dust storms and tornadoes

A characteristic feature of the Martian atmosphere is the constant presence of dust, the particles of which have a size of the order of 1.5 mm and consist mainly of iron oxide. Low gravity allows even rarefied air currents to lift huge clouds of dust to a height of 50 km. And winds, which are one of the manifestations of the temperature difference, often blow over the surface of the planet (especially in late spring - early summer in the southern hemisphere, when the temperature difference between the hemispheres is especially sharp), and their speed reaches 100 m / s. In this way, extensive dust storms are formed that have long been observed in the form of separate yellow clouds, and sometimes in the form of a solid yellow veil covering the entire planet. Most often, dust storms occur near the polar caps, their duration can reach 50-100 days. Weak yellow haze in the atmosphere, as a rule, is observed after large dust storms and is easily detected by photometric and polarimetric methods.

Dust storms, which were well observed in photographs taken from orbital vehicles, were inconspicuous when shooting from landing vehicles. The passage of dust storms at the landing sites of these space stations was recorded only by a sharp change in temperature, pressure and a very slight darkening of the general sky background. The layer of dust that settled after the storm in the vicinity of the Viking landing sites was only a few micrometers. All this indicates a rather low bearing capacity of the Martian atmosphere.

From September 1971 to January 1972, a global dust storm occurred on Mars, which even interfered with photographing the surface from the board of the Mariner-9 probe. The mass of dust in the atmospheric column (with optical thickness from 0.1 to 10), estimated during this period, ranged from 7.8⋅10 -5 to 1.66⋅10 -3 g / cm 2. Thus, the total weight of dust particles in the Martian atmosphere during the period of global dust storms can reach 10 8 - 10 9 t, which is comparable with the total amount of dust in the Earth's atmosphere.

Question about water availability

For the stable existence of pure water in a liquid state, the temperature and the partial pressure of water vapor in the atmosphere should be above the triple point in the phase diagram, whereas now they are far from the corresponding values. Indeed, research conducted by the Mariner-4 spacecraft in 1965 showed that there is currently no liquid water on Mars, but data from NASA Spirit and Opportunity rovers indicate the presence of water in the past. July 31, 2008, ice-cold water was discovered on Mars at the landing site of NASA's Phoenix spacecraft. The device found ice deposits directly in the ground. There are several facts in support of the allegation of the presence of water on the surface of the planet in the past. Firstly, minerals were found that could be formed only as a result of prolonged exposure to water. Secondly, very old craters are almost wiped off 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 most of all wind and water destroyed them about 3.5 billion years ago. Approximately the same age are many sculls.

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

On July 25, 2018, a report was released on the discovery, based on research by the MARSIS radar. The work showed the presence of a subglacial lake on Mars, located at a depth of 1.5 km under the ice of the South polar cap (on Planum australe), about 20 km wide. It became the first known permanent pond on Mars.

Seasons

As on Earth, on Mars, the seasons change due to the inclination of the axis of rotation to the orbit plane, therefore in winter the polar cap grows in the northern hemisphere and almost disappears in the southern hemisphere, and after six months the hemispheres change places. Moreover, due to the rather large eccentricity of the planet’s orbit at perihelion (winter solstice in the northern hemisphere), it receives up to 40% more solar radiation than in aphelion, and in the northern hemisphere winter is short and relatively mild, and summer is long but cool in on the south, on the contrary, summer is short and relatively warm, and winter is long and cold. In this regard, the southern cap in winter grows to half the pole-equator distance, and the northern cap only up to one third. When summer begins at one of the poles, carbon dioxide from the corresponding polar cap evaporates and enters the atmosphere; the winds carry him to the opposite hat, where he freezes again. Thus, the carbon dioxide cycle occurs, which, along with the different sizes of the polar caps, causes a change in the atmospheric pressure of Mars as it revolves around the Sun. Due to the fact that in winter up to 20-30% of the entire atmosphere freezes in the polar cap, the pressure in the corresponding region accordingly drops.

Changes over time

Like on Earth, the climate of Mars underwent long-term changes and in the early stages of planet evolution was very different from the current one. The difference is that the main role in the cyclic changes in the Earth’s climate is played by the change in the eccentricity of the orbit and the precession of the axis of rotation, while the inclination of the axis of rotation remains approximately constant due to the stabilizing effect of the Moon, while Mars, without such a large satellite, can undergo significant changes in the inclination axis of rotation. Calculations showed that the inclination of the axis of rotation of Mars, which is now 25 ° —approximately the same value as the Earth — in the recent past was 45 °, and on a scale of millions of years it could fluctuate from 10 ° to 50 °.