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Characterisation of the Dome C AtmosphericBoundary Layer Turbulence with a Non-Doppler Acoustic Radar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2007

N. Epchtein ,
M. Candidi ,
J.S. Lawrence ,
M.C.B. Ashley ,
C.S. Bonner ,
S. Bradley ,
D. Luong-Van  and
J.W.V. Storey
J.S. Lawrence*
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
M.C.B. Ashley
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
C.S. Bonner
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
S. Bradley
Affiliation:
Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
D. Luong-Van
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
J.W.V. Storey
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

The Antarctic plateau has superb astronomical seeing above aturbulent boundary layer. This layer has a thickness of between tensof metres and a few hundred metres, depending on the site. We aredeveloping a sonic radar, SNODAR, to measure the turbulence in theboundary layer from 10 to 50 m, and, in particular, to measurethe height of the boundary layer to an accuracy of 1 m.Commercial sonic radars typically have a lower limit of about 10 m, and have 10 m range bins. The results from SNODAR shouldallow a confident assessment of the height at which one must mount atelescope in order to realise the superb free atmosphere seeing fromthe Antarctic plateau, which has been measured at Dome C to be 0.27arcsecs on average, and better than 0.15 arcsecs for 25% of thetime.


Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 25: 1st ARENA Conference on "Large Astronomical Infrastructures at CONCORDIA, prospects and constraints for Antarctic Optical/IR Astronomy" , 2007 , pp. 31 - 34
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2007

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