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Fred, you seem like a pretty logical guy... So I'm frankly puzzled as to why you you term it as "quite a stretch" that an increase in solar irradiance would result in an increase in dust clouds (storms) on Mars.

Atmospheric movement on any planet results from mainly two things: The planet's rotation, and the amount of sunlight incident on it - The "engine" that drives atmospheric activity.

If there is a reduction in the planet's albedo over the given time frame due to dust, than that can only be because there was an *increase* in dust. It doesn't matter that the article doesn't specifically state why there is more dust now, the list of possible culprits is short.

If Mars is experiencing greater atmospheric movement (resulting in more dust storms), then the only logical culprit is increased sunlight, given the fact that Mars' rotational speed is stable and that it hasn't experienced any catastrophic volcanic eruptions or a significant increase in meteor impacts.