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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
*
jl@phys.unsw.edu.au
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Abstract

The Antarctic plateau has superb astronomical seeing above a turbulent boundary layer. This layer has a thickness of between tens of metres and a few hundred metres, depending on the site. We are developing a sonic radar, SNODAR, to measure the turbulence in the boundary layer from 10 to 50 m, and, in particular, to measure the 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 should allow a confident assessment of the height at which one must mount a telescope in order to realise the superb free atmosphere seeing from the Antarctic plateau, which has been measured at Dome C to be 0.27 arcsecs on average, and better than 0.15 arcsecs for 25% of the time.


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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