Comparison of Temperature Fluctuations Across Landed Missions

The boundary layer on Mars interacts directly with the surface to transport heat, momentum, and constituents to and from the free atmosphere through thermally driven and forced convection. Boundary layer information is obtained through lander and rover missions, which have the capability to sample the surface and lowest layers using in-situ and remote sensing techniques. Missions such as the Phoenix Lander and Mars Science Laboratory have temperature data sets spanning latitude, longitude, and time. They provide a means to examine short timescale (seconds to minutes) fluctuations in temperature, relate the fluctuations to strength of convection in parameterized models through deviations in temperature, and examine the spatial and temporal variations in convection. The MET instrument suite onboard the Phoenix lander recorded temperature and pressure at 0.5 Hz over the course of its shorter mission timeframe. The Temperature and Winds for InSight (TWINS) is part of an auxiliary support system for Mars InSight mission. Temperature is recorded continuously at a rate of 1 Hz during event retrieval mode (high-frequency sampling). The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) on Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover measures temperatures every second for five minutes at the top of each hour with extended hour-long observation blocks covering local times. These data sets will be analyzed using time-series analysis to look for diurnal and seasonal trends in the strength and occurrence of short timescale temperature fluctuations that are diagnostic of convective activity.