| Issue |
A&A
Volume 385, Number 1, April I 2002
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 328 - 336 | |
| Section | Numerical methods and codes | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20020132 | |
| Published online | 15 April 2002 | |
Astronomical seeing from the summits of the Antarctic plateau*
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Corresponding author: Dr. M. Burton, School of Physics, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received:
12
November
2001
Accepted:
10
January
2002
Abstract
From the South Pole, microthermal turbulence within a narrow surface boundary layer some 200 m thick provides the dominant contribution to the astronomical seeing. We present results for the seeing at a wavelength of 2.4 μm. The narrow turbulence layer above the site, confined close to the surface, provides greatly superior conditions for adaptive optics correction than do temperate latitude sites. An analysis of the available meteorological data for the Antarctic plateau suggests that sites on its summit, such as Domes A and C, probably experience significantly better boundary layer seeing than does the South Pole. In addition, the inversion layers may be significantly narrower, lending the sites even further to adaptive optics correction than does the Pole.
Key words: atmospheric effects / site testing / methods: observational
Rodney Marks died tragically at the South Pole in May 2000. This paper presents the most significant previously unpublished results from his Ph.D. Thesis: “Antarctic site testing: measurement of optical seeing at the South Pole” (Marks 2001).
© ESO, 2002
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