A study published Tuesday described how Mars has such a strong gravitational pull on Earth that it might be influencing our climate.
Researchers looked at geological data going back more than 65 million years from hundreds of locations across the globe, all of which suggest that deep-ocean currents go through periods of strength and weakness, according to the study published in the journal Nature.
This cycle is called the “astronomical grand cycle” (how original, guys), and happens every 2.4 million years.
During the strongest periods, oceanic currents known as “giant whirlpools” or eddies can reach the deepest parts of our seas, an area called the “abyss,” Live Science reported.
These currents then reportedly erode sediments that start to accumulate during calmer points during the cycle.
The wildest part is that this cycle coincides directly with gravitational interactions between our home planet and Mars as we fly around the sun, according to the study.
“The gravity fields of the planets in the solar system interfere with each other and this interaction, called a resonance, changes planetary eccentricity, a measure of how close to circular their orbits are,” the study’s co-author Professor Dietmar Muller said in a statement by EurekAlert.
Earth is pulled closer to the sun by Mars during the cycle over 2.4 million years, exposing us to greater amounts of solar radiation — and therefore a warmer climate, the study claims.
The craziest thing is that theories on the gravitational pull of our cosmic neighbors, whether it be Mars or a gas giant like Saturn or Jupiter, have always been something of a pseudoscience.
Top Image by GooKingSword from Pixabay
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I am a dedicated and avowed human-caused climate-change rejector, but I really have to throw down the yellow card on this claim that Mars has historically measurable effects on Earth’s climate. The claim that Mars draws earth closer to the sun on a 2.4-million-year cycle just doesn’t support the present case that humans do not influence planetary climate patterns. To support my position, let me cite the easily discoverable fact that earth’s orbit around the sun is already known to be eccentric in its own rite, to the tune of about 3 million miles – that being, that during northern hemisphere winter, earth is 3 million miles close to the sun every year than during summer. The resulting effect is that the southern hemisphere gets the greater potion of solar irradiation while the vast southern oceans are facing the sun at closest annual approach. No slight variation imposed by Mars on earth an an immensely greater time scale is going to hold a candle to this condition to any meaningful degree. Please quite grasping at straws to make the case firm that earth’s climate varies for entirely natural reasons; these contrived arguments make us look desperate to refute the Climate Crazies, while our case stands well by its own merits.