MSL YEAR 3 WINTER WEATHER DATA (LS 90 TO 180)

Column A (Sol). The Martian day is about 39 minutes longer than the terrestrial day.

Column B is solar longitude (Ls). MSL is in the Southern Hemisphere on Mars. The landing was at Ls 150 in winter. Ls 180 begins the spring there.  Ls 270 starts summer, Ls 0 starts the fall. Ls 90 starts the winter.

Column C shows the pressure reported by the REMS Team.

Column D shows the date on Earth.

Column E shows the maximum air temperature. With respect to the freezing point, from 0° C at 1 atm pressure it will increase up to 0.01° C at 0.006 atm (which is about the average pressure on Mars as given by NASA). This is the triple point of water. At pressures below this, water will never be liquid. It will change directly between solid and gas phase (sublimation). The temperature for this phase change, the sublimation point, will decrease as the pressure is further decreased

Column F shows minimum air temperature.

Column G shows the air temperature range for each sol. On Earth temperatures can vary by 40 °C in deserts. In column G where the range is 59 °C or less yellow background coloring points that out. The National Park Service claims the world record in a diurnal temperature variation is 102 °F (57 °C) (from 46 °F (8 °C) to −56 °F (−49 °C)) in Browning, Montana (elevation 4,377 feet/1,334 meters) on January 23 to 24, 1916. There were 2 days in Montana where the temperature changed by 57 °C.

Column H shows temperature range divided by 40. This allows us to compare terrestrial deserts with Gale Crater, Mars. How much cooling occurs at night is related to the density of the atmosphere. Here we see the ratio of cooling on a Mars sol to the typical 40 °C cooling figure for Earth's deserts shown with a green background when that ratio is under 1.5. For MSL Year 1 when we altered the devisor from 40 °C  to 57 °C then 88 of the ratios were altered to 1 or less than 1, meaning that Martian air pressure is indeed likely much higher than NASA claims.

Column I shows maximum ground temperature. As with terrestrial deserts, the ground on Mars heats more during the day than the air does, and it cools more at night than the air does. In Column K when the maximum ground temperature is given by REMS is above 0°C it is shown with a red background.

Column J shows the minimum ground temperature. When it is -90 °C or colder the background is in purple. The ground temperatures are not very precise. The requirement was to measure ground brightness temperature over the range from 150 to 300 K with a resolution of 2 K and an accuracy of 10 K. 

Column K. Drop in ground temperature from day to night.

Column L shows the increase in temperature from the mast 1.5 meters above the ground down to the ground during the daylight hours. In column N anytime there is an increase in temperature of 11 °C or more this in indicated with a dark blue background.

Column M shows the decrease in temperature from the ground to the air at nights. If the data were valid we would expect similar heating or cooling to occur over the set distance from ground to boom. A quick survey of the data immediately shows that this was not found. In column L we see a variation in heating between 0 °C and at least 15 °C with a 54 °C anomaly on Sol 1,070. For nighttime cooling any variation from 11°C to 19°C is shown with a medium blue background. More than that is shown with a dark blue background.

Column N shows the pressure for the same Ls in MSL Year 1.

Column O shows the absolute value of the change in pressure in Pascals from the same Ls in the previous year (Column [M] - [C]).

Column P shows the original pressure for the same Ls in MSL Year 1 before JPL revised their data.

Column Q shows the Ls during Year 1.

Column R shows the UV for the sol in Year 2.

Column S shows the UV for the sol in Year 1. All sols in MSL Year 1 and Year 2 have opacity listed as “sunny” which seems dubious.

Column T shows comments, if any.

B

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

 K

T

U

MSL Altitude below are

SOL

~LS

PRESSURE Pa   

EARTH DATE

MAX AIR TEMP °C   

MIN AIR TEMP °C

AIR TEMP RANGE °C

AIR TEMP RANGE °C/40

MAX GROUND TEMP °C

MIN GROUND

TEMP °C

∆ GROUND TEMP DAY    TO NIGHT

DAYTIME CHANGE IN TEMP °C  AIR TO GROUND

NIGHTTIME CHANGE IN TEMP °C AIR TO GROUND

PRESSURE AT SAME LS IN MSL YEAR 2

∆ PRESSURE YEAR 3 TO YEAR 2 SAME LS 

~LS year 2

PRESSURE YEAR 1 BEFORE REVISION 

UV

YR

3 

UV

YR

2

MSL YEAR 2 SOL FOR THIS LS/

COMMENTS

MSL Altitude meters  below areoid

YELLOW IF <60 °C

GREEN IF<1.5

RED IF

> 0 °C

PURPLE = >-90°C OR COLDER

YELLOW NUMBERS = -80 to -89 °C,

red background = -90°C or colder drop

BLUE = >10°C

PURPLE = >10°C

1212 was a  last day of fall. 1881 is a first day of winter. This seasonal chart starts with a comparison of Sol 1213.

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