And here is the weather forecast …

Therefore they should work on Earth too, right? And we should trust their projections to base trillions of dollars of spending which could otherwise be directed towards real problems, right?

Computer models have accurately forecast conditions on Mars and are valid predictors of climate change on Earth, according to a team of US and French astronomers.

They say the computer programs accurately predicted Martian glaciers and other features on Earth’s planetary neighbour.

“Some public figures imply that modelling of global climate change on Earth is ‘junk science,’ but if climate models can explain features observed on other planets, then the models must have at least some validity,” says lead researcher William Hartmann of the Planetary Science Institute.

The team’s findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s planetary sciences division in Reno, Nevada.

[…]

Hartmann, a senior scientist at the non-profit Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, says he and his team confirmed the computer models’ effectiveness by using them to forecast conditions on Mars.

New satellite observations of glaciers, ice flows and other features on the red planet showed that the models’ predictions corresponded with what was on the Martian surface, says Hartmann. (source)

Seems a pretty good argument. I mean, apart from the fact that Mars has no vegetation, no animals, birds, insects, bacteria, fish (or humans) or anything other living organism, no oceans or water, an atmosphere made up of 95% CO2, no weather to speak of (except occasional cirrus-like clouds), no precipitation of any significance (except perhaps a few flakes of solid CO2 blowing in the wind), temperatures that rarely exceed 0˚C, takes twice as long to go around the Sun (and is 70-odd million kilometres further from it) has hardly any tectonic or volcanic activity to speak of, or any other myriad complications of the Earth’s climate, it’s almost exactly the same!

Here’s the exclusive ACM climate model result for Pluto. Bloody cold. See, even I can do it!

I will leave readers to contribute any other components of the earth/ocean/atmosphere system of our planet that are absent on Mars.