AbstractDiurnal ground surface and air temperatures (Tg, Ta) and the five major surface energy budget fluxes are displayed as derived from M2020 mission observations and from column model simulations in two extreme cases (low and high diurnal Tg‐variation) along the Perseverance rover track in the Jezero crater. In both cases the fluxes and Tg are well modeled when using diurnally variable apparent ground thermal inertia I derived via a Fourier series method from the hourly observations. Hence the measurements, the diagnostic method and the model results are consistent with high‐ and low‐I nonhomogeneous terrain in the field‐of‐view (FOV) of the thermal infrared and solar sensors. In contrast less extreme values of I consistent with THEMIS retrievals are necessary for good simulations of observed Ta. We deduce that the measured Tg for the small ∼3 m2 FOV may not always be representative for the larger region around the rover, which controls the near‐surface atmospheric temperature profile.