Martian Climate Instabilities Compared to Earth’s

Sometimes the shortest path to learn about the scientific details of our planet Earth is to study similar details on other planets where the phenomena under investigation are simpler to investigate and understand.

Mars is a good example of such a pathway. It also is a good example of how the study of other planets can expose hidden evidences for supernatural design in our own planet.

In a recent issue of Science a NASA astronomer, Norbert Schorghofer, develops a detailed model for the past forty ice ages on Mars.¹ Using measurements from satellites orbiting Mars, Schorghofer identified three different kinds of ice at the Martian poles: on top a dry layer, on the bottom a massive ice sheet, and in the middle a layer of pore ice. He also identified a large amount of subsurface ice at mid-latitudes.

Schorghofer demonstrated that the mid-latitude subsurface ice was well explained by large intermittent increases in the tilt of Mars’ rotation axis. His explanation implied that, unlike Earth, the main driving force behind Mars’ ice ages was changes in the tilt of its rotation axis. Schorghofer’s model showed that these changes were so dramatic and so rapid as to establish that over the past five million years Mars suffered forty ice age events, each event resulting in a wholesale climate change for the entire Martian surface.

If anything like the Martian experience occurred on Earth, all advanced and large-bodied life would be wiped out. Schorghofer’s study shows that dramatic and rapid climate changes by astronomical forcing (changes in the orbital and rotational characteristics) are the norm for planets. What makes Earth so extraordinary is that the variation in the tilt of its rotation axis is virtually nil and changes in the eccentricity and inclination of its orbit are very small compared to the other solar system planets. Evidently, Earth’s orbital and rotational features have been exquisitely fine-tuned to allow for the long-term survival of advanced life on its surface.

The degree of fine-tuning design in Earth’s orbital and rotational characteristics has become increasingly apparent and contributes to the conclusion that Earth and the solar system have been supernaturally and superintelligently manufactured to make human life and human civilization possible. Thanks to Schorghofer’s work, it should not be too long before scientists uncover even more evidence of God’s handiwork in the design of Earth and the solar system.