Bibcode
Castro-Almazán, J. A.; Muñoz-Tuñón, C.
Bibliographical reference
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 130, Issue 993, pp. 115002 (2018).
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11
2018
Citations
5
Refereed citations
5
Description
We obtained climate normals over a period of 10 years (2003–2012)
at Izaña (2395 m), Tenerife (Spain) with the aim of
characterizing the mesoscale climate conditions governing the two
astronomical observatories in the Canary Islands: Teide Observatory,
located on the summit of Izaña and Roque de los Muchachos
Observatory (ORM), approximately 140 km away, on the island of La Palma.
Both sites are at the same height (≈2300 m) and share very similar
regional climatological conditions. The study was carried out as part of
the site selection campaign for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) in
the northern hemisphere, which was finally installed at the ORM. We used
long-term and high-quality climate data series recorded by the Centro de
Investigación Atmosférica de Izaña (CIAI) at the
Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO; WMO#60010). In this paper, we
analyze the temperature (central tendency, maxima, minima, and ranges),
precipitation (intensities per hour and daily, monthly, and yearly
cumulative), and relative humidity. The precipitation data are divided
into liquid, snow, and hail. All the results are presented in
triplicate, covering the whole series, nighttime, and daytime. The
results show a smooth temperature profile with sporadic but moderate
extremes, a low daily (24 h) temperature range (median 7.1 °C), and
extremely low nighttime temperature range (median 2.7 °C). Rainfall
is very rare and sporadic (287 mm a‑1), with low
intensities. The relative humidity is also low (median 29% and 25th
percentile 15%) and follows the precipitation cycle. These results
confirm the stability and optimal conditions required to fully operate
CTA and other astronomical facilities. The requirements specified in the
CTA project documentation are fulfilled.
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