Submillimeter Atmospheric Transparency at Maunakea, at the South Pole, and at Chajnantor

2016/02/29 by Simon J. E. Radford, Jeffery B. Peterson · 26 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate #Atmospheric aerosols and clouds #Atmospheric composition #Measure (data warehouse) #Millimeter #Radiometer #Soil Moisture and Remote Sensing #Summit #Transparency (behavior) #Window (computing) #astro-ph.IM

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1538-3873/128/965/075001

published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 128(965), 075001 (Institute of Physics) · Accepted by PASP

arxiv created 2016/02/29 · openalex publication_date 2016/06/10 · arxiv updated 2016/06/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

For a systematic assessment of submillimeter observing conditions at different sites, we constructed tipping radiometers to measure the broad band atmospheric transparency in the window around 350 μ m wavelength. The tippers were deployed on Maunakea, Hawaii, at the South Pole, and in the vicinity of Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. Identical instruments permit direct comparison of these sites. Observing conditions at the South Pole and in the Chajnantor area are better than on Maunakea. Simultaneous measurements with two tippers demonstrate conditions at the summit of Cerro Chajnantor are significantly better than on the Chajnantor plateau.

Citations

• The Optical/Infrared Astronomical Quality of High Atacama Sites. II. Infrared Characteristics
• SCUBA: a common-user submillimetre camera operating on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
• First ground-based 200- m observing with THUMPER on JCMT -- sky characterization and planet maps

Cited by

• Evaluation of New Submillimeter VLBI Sites for the Event Horizon Telescope
• Assessments of Ali, Dome A, and Summit Camp for mm-wave Observations Using MERRA-2 Reanalysis