Astronomical seeing and ground-layer turbulence in the Canadian High Arctic

作者:Hickson P*; Gagne R; Pfrommer T; Steinbring E
来源:Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2013, 433(1): 307-312.
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stt729

摘要

We report results of a two-year campaign of measurements, during arctic winter darkness, of optical turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer above the Polar Environment Atmospheric Laboratory in northern Ellesmere Island (latitude +80 degrees N). The data reveal that the ground-layer turbulence in the Arctic is often quite weak, even at the comparatively low 610 m altitude of this site. The median and 25th percentile ground-layer seeing, at a height of 20 m, are found to be 0.57 and 0.25 arcsec, respectively. When combined with a free-atmosphere component of 0.30 arcsec, the median and 25th percentile total seeing for this height is 0.68 and 0.42 arcsec, respectively. The median total seeing from a height of 7 m is estimated to be 0.81 arcsec. These values are comparable to those found at the best high-altitude astronomical sites.

  • 出版日期2013-7