Exploratour - The Atmosphere of Mars
Warm and Cold
Warm and cold fronts may be more extreme on Mars than on the Earth because of the greenhouse effect. Usually the greenhouse effect helps a planet keep an even temperature, especially as day turns to night. Molecules can keep an atmosphere warm long after the Sun has gone away.
When the atmosphere is thin, the way the atmosphere of Mars is, the greenhouse effect is smaller. It is hard to know now what this means in the atmosphere of Mars. More information from the atmosphere of Mars would help scientists learn more about what a smaller greenhouse effect means for the weather of Mars.