Daily Records of Atmospheric Temperature With Perseverance

The MEDA instrument measures near-surface temperatures around the clock and at different altitudes using a combination of thermocouple sensors and a thermal infrared radiometer pointing up to the sky and down to the ground. This data is of interest since strong vertical temperature differences develop near the ground causing intense vertical motions of air during daytime. Because of this turbulence, the unstable layer of the atmosphere extends much higher on Mars than on Earth (10 km vs. 2 km), with implications for the vertical transport of heat, momentum, dust, water and a variety of chemical tracers. One example is dust lifting by convective vortices that can extend unusually high in the atmosphere of Mars (see image).