The Red Planet is around 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) away from Earth. Astronauts need to journey for approximately 3 years to reach it. But despite the distance, this fourth inner planet in our solar system still influences Earth in a major way.

According to University of Sydney’s Professor of Geophysics, Dietmar Müller, one of the scientists publishing their findings in Nature Communications journal, “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.”

Instead, the resonance also affects the ocean’s circulation, which in turn is causing the solar radiation on Earth. The scientists studying Mars’ influence on Earth are investigating whether deep sea currents are also affected by this planetary tug of war.

The scientists believe that once every 2.4 million years, Earth experiences periods of higher solar radiation and warm climates. These warmer cycles are connected to robust movements in the deep ocean. Even more astounding is the fact that this has been happening for 40 million years.

The giant whirlpools dig up the accumulated sediments on the ocean floor during the tide cycle’s periods of calm. And these deep eddies are significant to the temperature increase in the ocean.

Müller cannot confirm anything of the direct relationship between the Mars-Earth resonance to AMOC and its effects. What he does say is that their study results in a suggestion that “more intense deep-ocean eddies in a warmer world may prevent such ocean stagnation.”

“We know there are at least two separate mechanisms that contribute to the vigor of deep water mixing in the oceans,” he says. Of those two, AMOC is one factor, and the other is deep ocean eddies. The latter, Müller says, “[keeps] the ocean ventilated.”

The data, she says, “suggest that warmer oceans have more vigorous deep circulation. This will potentially keep the ocean from becoming stagnant even if Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slows or stops altogether.”

Although he embraces the work as a contribution to understanding climate change, his skepticism gives us something else to think about. It boils down to Mars’ gravitational pull. It’s, he says, “so weak, at only about one one-millionth of the sun. Even Jupiter has a stronger gravitational field for Earth.”

“Greenhouse gas forcing is like a sledgehammer in comparison,” he points out, “so this has no bearing on present-day climate, where we are seeing melting ice sheets reduce the ocean overturning circulation.”

Any well-researched data to help us combat the issue of climate change should always be welcome. This study, by Dutkiewitcz, Müller, and Associate Professor Slah Boulila from Sorbonne University, will definitely help us tackle the challenge of understanding why it’s so hot on Earth right now.