Date: 8/30/01 7:01:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Kent: Take a look at the following comparison sequence of MGS thermal vs. dust activity images for Aug. 24th - 28th.

How can conditions possibly fluctuate so radically from one day to the next and back again the next on a global scale like this? Typically and historically it takes several days for conditions to build and change to this extent, especially on this scale. What's the old saying about taking time for the dust to settle? How can these conditions now change in complete opposition to one another when they have been relatively proportional to each other all summer? Up until recently, as the dust has increased, so has the temperature. Now they suddenly appear to be changing in complete opposition to each other?

I figure either the JPL scientists can't put calendar dates in the right order, the data is being tampered with, MGS is going on the blink as did Odyssey, or maybe there is something even more unbelievable taking place here. I'd also be interested to know why there would be such a large difference in polar coverage blackout areas on two instruments, which are orbiting together on the same satellite? Just curious in case anyone has the answer.