Preliminary DIMM and MASS Nighttime Seeing Measurements at PEARL, in the Canadian High Arctic
arXiv:1305.5807 · doi:10.1086/671482
Abstract
Results of deploying a Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) and a DIMM combined with a Multi-Aperture Scintillation Sensor (MASS/DIMM) are reported for campaigns in 2011 and 2012 on the roof of the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL). This facility is on a 610-m-high ridge at latitude 80 degrees N, near the Eureka weatherstation on Ellesmere Island, Canada. The median seeing at 8-m elevation is 0.85 arcsec or better based on DIMM data alone, but is dependent on wind direction, and likely includes a component due to the PEARL building itself. Results with MASS/DIMM yield a median seeing less than 0.76 arcsec. A semi-empirical model of seeing versus ground wind speed is introduced which allows agreement between these datasets, and with previous boundary-layer profiling by lunar scintillometry from the same location. This further suggests that best 20 percentile seeing reaches 0.53 arcsec, of which typically 0.30 arcsec is due to the free atmosphere. Some discussion for guiding future seeing instrumentation and characterization at this site is provided.
arXiv comment16 pages, 11 figures, accepted for PASP
References in corpus (6)
- Direct Detection of the Close Companion of Polaris with the Hubble Space Telescope
- Combined MASS-DIMM instrument for atmospheric turbulence studies
- Accurate seeing measurements with MASS and DIMM
- Astronomical Sky Quality Near Eureka, in the Canadian High Arctic
- First Assessment of Mountains on Northwestern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, as Potential Astronomical Observing Sites
- Four years of optical turbulence monitoring at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)