Precipitable Water Vapor, Temperature, and Wind Statistics At Sites Suitable for mm and Submm Wavelength Astronomy in Northern Chile

Abstract

Atmospheric water vapor is the main limiting factor of atmospheric transparency in the mm and submm wavelength spectral windows. Thus, dry sites are needed for the installation and successful operation of radio astronomy observatories exploiting those spectral windows. Temperature and wind are variables of special consideration when planning the installation and operation of large-aperture radio telescopes, as these parameters affect the mechanical response of radio telescopes exposed to the environmental conditions. Temperature, and in particular temperature gradients, induce thermal deformation of mechanical structures, while high wind speeds and gusts induce pointing jitter affecting the tracking accuracy of astronomical sources during the observations. This work summarizes the statistics of precipitable water vapor (PWV), temperature, and wind monitored at sites by the coastal mountain range, as well as on the west slope of the Andes mountain range in the region of Antofagasta, Chile. This information could prove useful for the planning of extended baselines for the Atacama Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (ALMA), and/or new radio telescope projects, such as the Atacama Large Aperture Submm/ mm Telescope (AtLAST) initiative.

28 pages, 13 Figures. Manuscript accepted under Open Access terms to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP) Journal

References in corpus (8)

• The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
• Thirty Meter Telescope Site Testing I: Overview
• The Cosmic Background Imager
• Evaluation of the ALMA Prototype Antennas
• The Optical/Infrared Astronomical Quality of High Atacama Sites. II. Infrared Characteristics
• Parque Astronómico de Atacama: An ideal site for millimeter, submillimeter, and mid-infrared astronomy
• All-sky homogeneity of precipitable water vapour over Paranal
• Study of the atmospheric conditions at Cerro Armazones using astronomical data

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Global Site Selection for Astronomy
• Wideband 67-116 GHz receiver development for ALMA Band 2
• Twenty years of PWV measurements in the Chajnantor Area
• Impact of climate change on site characteristics of eight major astronomical observatories using high-resolution global climate projections until 2050
• Extending the view of ArH+ chemistry in diffuse clouds
• Bolometric Night Sky Temperature and Subcooling of Telescope Structures
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Quantifying Atmospheric Emission above Cerro Toco
• Multi-parameter study for a new Ground-Based telescope in Egypt
• Deep-learning-based prediction of Precipitable Water Vapor in the Chajnantor area
• First Very Long Baseline Interferometry Fringe Detection at 690GHz