VL1/VL2 MARS LCS: Atmospheric Optical Depth from Viking Lander Sun Images

1044 measurements of total normal atmospheric optical depth at two Mars landing sites, derived from Viking Lander camera images of the Sun at 0.67 micrometers over about 900 Mars days. The dataset was created by NASA and includes associated error estimates. Studies have used this data to analyze diurnal, seasonal, and annual variations, observe dust storms, and assess contributions from ice haze and dust particles.

Use Cases

• Modeling diurnal and seasonal atmospheric opacity variations based on optical depth time series
• Analyzing the impact of Martian dust storms based on surface-based optical depth observations
• Studying the composition of atmospheric aerosols based on derived contributions from ice haze and dust particles
• Validating orbital remote sensing data with ground-truth atmospheric measurements from the Viking landers

Strengths

• Contains 1044 specific measurements with associated error estimates
• Covers a long temporal baseline of approximately 900 Martian days
• Provides ground-truth atmospheric data from two distinct landing sites (VL1 and VL2)

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Viking Lander camera images of the Sun

Time Range

Approximately 900 Mars days (specific Earth dates unknown)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 18:21:25.715011; freshness should be verified

Geography

Mars, at the Viking Lander 1 and Viking Lander 2 sites