Discovery of Calm Astronomical Sites Over the Antarctic Continent

Abstract

A calm astronomical site means a site where astronomical observation would be less likely to be interfered with by optical turbulence. Previous turbulence measurements at a few sites in Antarctica have demonstrated very calm atmospheric conditions here. So far, to realize a wide range of measurements of the turbulence conditions above the Antarctic plateau will be a great hardship. Thus, in this study, the numerical weather model outputs provided by the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) have been used. Based on the AMPS outputs, the boundary layer height and the atmospheric Richardson number were obtained, from which the turbulence conditions above the Antarctic plateau have been evaluated. Finally, a statistical conclusion evaluating the total atmospheric turbulence above the whole Antarctic continent for an entire year is first reported. We find some sites (or regions) have a calmer atmosphere than Dome A; this is of great instructional significance for planning the next generation of ground-based optical astronomical telescopes.

Keywords

• Atmospheric effects
• Astronomical seeing