OBJECTIVE WE PROPOSE A SET OF INVESTIGATIONS THAT WILL ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN OF THE MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY (MSL) DYNAMIC ALBEDO OF NEUTRONS (DAN) EXPERIMENT BY DIRECTLY IMPROVING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF SUBSURFACE HYDROGEN AND OTHER GEOCHEMICAL ANOMALIES ALONG THE CURIOSITY ROVER S TRAVERSE WITHIN GALE CRATER. METHODS A MAJOR FOCUS OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO ANALYZE DATA RETURNED FROM THE DAN EXPERIMENT S PASSIVE MODE AND INTERPRET IT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE GEOLOGY ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE TRAVERSE. WE WILL ALSO COMPLETE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SOURCE OF WEAK DIURNAL VARIATIONS OBSERVED IN DAN PASSIVE NEUTRON COUNT RATES AND USE THE RESULTS TO DEVELOP CORRECTIONS FOR THESE VARIATIONS. WE WILL DEVELOP A METHOD FOR CALIBRATING DAN PASSIVE DATA IN THE ABSENCE OF DAN ACTIVE DATA AFTER THE ACTIVE MODE OF THE EXPERIMENT STOPS WORKING. LASTLY WE WILL EXAMINE DAN ACTIVE AND PASSIVE MODE DATA FROM A HIGH-PRIORITY OBSERVATIONAL CAMPAIGN CONDUCTED AS THE ROVER EXITED THE YELLOWKNIFE BAY LOCATION TO EVALUATE THE HYPOTHESIS THAT DESICCATION PROCESSES INFLUENCE THE HYDRATION STATE OF THE NEAR-SURFACE. SIGNIFICANCE TO MDAP AND NASA THE PROPOSED WORK IS RELEVANT TO THE MARS DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM (MDAP) IN THAT IT WILL ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN FROM THE DAN EXPERIMENT ON THE MSL MISSION BY ANALYZING PASSIVE MODE DATA THAT NO CURRENTLY-FUNDED MEMBERS OF THE DAN TEAM ARE WORKING ON AND BY PROVIDING A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON A KEY SET OF DAN ACTIVE OBSERVATIONS. OUR TEAM INCLUDES ALL MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WHO HAVE WORKED EXTENSIVELY WITH DAN PASSIVE DATA IN THE PAST AND THUS IT IS UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO EXTRACT USEFUL SCIENCE FROM THIS IMPORTANT PART OF THE DAN EXPERIMENT. OUR TASK TO DEVELOP NEW TECHNIQUES FOR ANALYZING DAN PASSIVE DATA WITHOUT THE USE OF DAN ACTIVE DATA IS RESPONSIVE TO MDAP IN THAT IT WILL "SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE USE OR FACILITATE THE INTERPRETATION OF MISSION DATA" AFTER THE (EXPECTED) FAILURE OF THE DAN PNG AND ACTIVE MODE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.