In a first small field experiment in the Ubehebe Crater in the Northern Part of Death Valley National Park in 2012 it was found, that the nocturnal temperature inversion at the base of the crater is extremely shallow. A few metres above the crater bottom, the temperature was higher than on the gentle slopes surrounding the crater. In a new field campaign, 2013, the measurements were repeated and in addition infrared thermometry was used to investigate the surface temperature inside and outside the crater. The steeper parts of the slopes within the crater stayed much warmer than the base of the crater and the surrounding sloping areas around the crater. A conceptual model has been derived, where the cold air pool formation in the crater is prohibited by convective slope flows. Except at a very shallow skin of cold air at the bottom of the crater, the air within the crater stays warmer than at the surface of the surrounding slopes. In the presentation some results of the measurements will be shown and the conceptual model will be dicussed.
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