A key giveaway that aerosols were behind the effect was that the lightning was most pronounced at times of the year when powerful
atmospheric convection currents form that can carry the aerosol particles high into the sky (Geophysical Research Letters, doi.org/cc7b).
Large scale dust storms change the
atmospheric opacity and
convection; as always when comparing mean temperatures, the altitude at which the measurement is made matters, but to the extent it is sensible to speak of a mean temperature for Mars, the evidence is for significant cooling from the 1970's, when Viking made measurements, compared to
current temperatures.
These OMITTED / POORLY Represented processes include the following: oceanic eddies, tides, fronts, buoyancy - driven coastal and boundary
currents, cold halocline, dense water plumes and
convection, double diffusion, surface / bottom mixed layer, sea ice — thickness distribution, concentration, deformation, drift and export, fast ice, snow cover, melt ponds and surface albedo,
atmospheric loading, clouds and fronts, ice sheets / caps and mountain glaciers, permafrost, river runoff, and air — sea ice — land interactions and coupling.