Surface Temperature and Lapse Rate Data for Dry Planetary Atmospheres

Data supporting the paper "Why are Mountaintops Cold? The Transition of Surface Lapse Rate on Dry Planets" by Bowen Fan of the University of Chicago. The dataset contains surface temperature, elevation, lapse rate, and energy flux variables across longitude and latitude for various modeled planetary cases. It is structured into multiple .mat files corresponding to figures and supplementary materials from the associated research.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between surface temperature and elevation based on the provided Ts and Z variables.
• Modeling surface lapse rate transitions using the multiple 'a' and 'b' series variables for different planetary cases.
• Studying planetary energy budgets by examining net solar heating (GSW), atmospheric heating (GLW), surface emission (TSK/LWS), and sensible cooling (HFX) fluxes.
• Comparing highland and lowland energy differences using the LWS_diff, LWA_diff, and SH_diff variables.

Strengths

• Data is directly linked to a specific, peer-reviewed scientific paper, providing clear research context.
• Variables are well-defined with units (e.g., K, m, %, W/m2) for key atmospheric and surface parameters.
• The dataset is structured to replicate specific figures from the paper, facilitating reproducibility.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the figure descriptions.
• Row count, spatial resolution, and the number of modeled cases are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of Chicago (author: Bowen Fan), via paperswithcode.

Collection Method

Likely generated from climate or planetary atmospheric model simulations for the associated research paper.

Geography

Planetary-scale, likely representing modeled longitudes and latitudes.