Astronomical site selection: On the use of satellite data for aerosol content monitoring

Abstract

The main goal of this work is the analysis of new approaches to the study of the properties of astronomical sites. In particular, satellite data measuring aerosols have recently been proposed as a useful technique for site characterization and searching for new sites to host future very large telescopes. Nevertheless, these data need to be critically considered and interpreted in accordance with the spatial resolution and spectroscopic channels used. In this paper we have explored and retrieved measurements from satellites with high spatial and temporal resolutions and concentrated on channels of astronomical interest. The selected datasets are OMI on board the NASA Aura satellite and MODIS on board the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites. A comparison of remote sensing and in situ techniques is discussed. As a result, we find that aerosol data provided by satellites up to now are not reliable enough for aerosol site characterization, and in situ data are required.

LaTeX2e MN v2.2, 16 pages with 13 figures. Accepted for Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.(2008)

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Global Site Selection for Astronomy
• Clear sky fraction above Indonesia: an analysis for astronomical site selection
• Astronomical Site Selection for Turkey Using GIS Techniques
• Fraction of clear skies above astronomical sites: a new analysis from the GOES12 satellite
• Characterizing the aerosol atmosphere above the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos by analyzing seven years of data taken with an GaAsP HPD-readout, absolutely calibrated elastic LIDAR
• Saharan mineral dust outbreaks observed over the North Atlantic island of La Palma in summertime between 1984 and 2012
• Satellite characterization of four interesting sites for astronomical instrumentation
• New analysis of the fraction of observable nights at astronomical sites based on FengYun-2 satellite data
• Multi-parameter study for a new Ground-Based telescope in Egypt