Antarctic Boundary Layer Seeing

Mark R. Swain (1) , Hubert Gallée (2)

1 MPIA - Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
2 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement

We have modeled the wintertime boundary‐layer seeing over the Antarctic ice sheet and find it to be both strong and ubiquitous. We quantify the relations for both the boundary‐layer height and seeing in terms of the surface wind speed. We have also estimated the telescope elevation required to minimize the effect of boundary‐layer seeing and find that a minimum elevation of 20 m is required at Dome F. This work demonstrates that regional climate models calibrated by localized observations permit knowledge of the atmosphere to be extended both in space and time and thus constitute a new and powerful tool for quantitative comparison of potential Antarctic telescope sites.

Domains: Glaciology

Mark R. Swain, Hubert Gallée. Antarctic Boundary Layer Seeing. Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2006, 118, pp.1190 à 1197. ⟨10.1086/507153⟩. ⟨insu-00375767⟩