Air temp vs ground temp on Mars

[BMAONE23]

Currently, the Air temp on Mars, at the Curiosity landing site, is ranging between a High of +28dF to a low of -103dF with a difference of 131dF between day time High and night time Low.
The surface temperature has a larger difference wit day time highs of +37dF and night time lows of almost -132dF with a difference of almost 169dF. +37dF is warm enough to allow subsurface ice to melt and flow where it isn't to close to boil away in the tenuous atmosphere

[neufer]

+37dF is warm enough to allow subsurface ice to melt and flow where it isn't to close to boil away in the tenuous atmosphere

Since the surface air pressure there is well above the 6.11 mb triple point of water
Curiosity needs to use its arm to dig down to the wet sand.

(Will Curiosity observe dew forming at night?)

[emc]

(Will Curiosity observe dew forming at night?)

I believe Curiosity is recharging at night.

[bystander]

I believe Curiosity is recharging at night.

Curiosity is nuclear powered.

[Chris Peterson]

I believe Curiosity is recharging at night.

Curiosity is nuclear powered.

The 100W RTG cannot provide enough power to meet the peak requirements of Curiosity. The rover therefore has a pair of lithium-ion battery packs that are charged by the RTG. The rover is certainly not shut down at night, but it is doing much less than in the day (e.g. it isn't using its drive system at night), so during that time most of the battery charging occurs.

However, the fact that they use the nighttime hours to recharge does not preclude doing experiments or observations at night if the science dictates.