Observations of the climate near the surface of Jezero over a half Mars year

Abstract

International audiencePerseverance landed on Jezero with the most complete suite of environmental sensors ever sent to the surface of another planet. It combines the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), the MastCam-Z and Engineering cameras, SuperCam spectrometers and, finally, the several microphones onboard the Mars 2020 rover. The most recent collection of atmospheric observations at Jezero and their interpretation are building an understanding of what physical processes drive the behavior of the Martian atmosphere near the surface of Jezero. We report on the observed Martian cycles of pressure, temperature, dust opacity with their physical aerosol properties, and the hydrological cycle at Jezero. These cycles have shown different behaviors on time scales from diurnal to seasonal and annual to other locations where we landed before. The differences illustrate the range of environmental processes that one can find near the red planet’s surface. We also report on the observed evolution of the near-surface boundary layer thermodynamics during the day and nighttime regimes