At 06:47:56 UTC the Mastcam Left has taken again the inner rim of the Gale crater as in the previous photo (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2775064539243388/).
It is 13:07:04 LTST (local solar time) and the Sun has been soaring for a while at its maximum height above the horizon. The ground has reached its maximum temperature which in this Sol was +5°C, although only three days earlier the maximum temperature reached +14°C!
Comparison with the previous image, taken in the early morning, shows an increase in haze that has reduced the contrast and color saturation of the heights in the distance, as well as the appearance of a nice cloud on the horizon. In addition, the entire landscape appears slightly darker than in the morning photo, perhaps due to a thin cloud cover transiting in front of the Sun.
If so, it would also explain the lower maximum temperatures in the last two days (see REMS Mars Weather: https://cab.inta-csic.es/rems/marsweather.html).
Certainly Martian meteorology is a bit more dynamic than one would be led to believe, with clear and (relatively) warm days as well as more cloudy and mild days.
The original image is a black and white encoding of the Bayer mask that has been converted to color through a process called “debayering” or “demosaicing.” In addition, the photo has undergone noise reduction due to Jpeg compression, white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation in order to make the colors more similar to what the human eye would see.
Original image: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02698/mcam/2698ML0141210001003207C00_DXXX.jpg
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