Climate of Mars
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What influences the climate
Mars has a significantly elliptical orbit, which influences a lot the Marsian climate. Thus, the temperature difference between aphelion and perihelion is as much as 30 K at the same subsolar point.
Temperatures
The average atmospheric global temperature on Mars is approximately 218 K (-57° C, -70° F), with a minimum of 133 K (-140° C, -220° F) measured at the poles during winter and a maximum of 300 K (+27° C, +80° F) measured near the equator during summer. Temperatures at the Viking I landing site cycled daily between 186 K (-87° C, -125° F) and 241 K (-32° C, -25° F), while temperatures at the Viking II landing site nearer the pole cycled between 158 K (-115° C, -175° F) and 200 K (-73° C, -100° F) and stayed closer to the minimum during winter.
For comparison, temperatures at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which is manned year round, vary between an average of 245 K (-27°C, -18° F) in the summer to 213 K (-60° C, −76° F) in winter, with a recorded minimum of 190 K (-83° C, −117° F) and a maximum of 260 K (-14°C, +7° F). Special measures are required to live in such low temperatures.
Thus, unlike Earth, temperature differences during a diurnal cycle (between night and day) can be as much as 60 °C.
