Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.

Source: AGU Advances

The balance between a planet’s absorbed solar energy and emitted heat—its radiant energy budget—shapes its weather and climate. Guan et al. [2024] present the first detailed view of Mars’ energy budget across latitudes, revealing stark contrasts with Earth: Mars experiences energy deficits in its tropics and surpluses at higher latitudes, opposite to Earth’s pattern.

These differences provide insights into the unique climate dynamics of both planets. The interactions of Mars’ radiant energy budget with global dust storms and polar ice introduce new insights into the complex feedback processes that likely shape Martian weather patterns and long-term climate stability. Given the significant impact even slight energy imbalances have on Earth’s climate, continued monitoring of Mars’ energy dynamics could be key to understanding the red planet’s climate dynamics.

Citation: Guan, L., Li, L., Creecy, E. C., Jiang, X., Wang, X., Martínez, G., et al. (2024). Distinct energy budgets of Mars and Earth. AGU Advances, 5, e2024AV001389. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024AV001389

—Xi Zhang, Editor, AGU Advances

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