Bibcode
Pérez, J. C.; García-Lorenzo, B.; Díaz, J. P.; González, A.; Expósito, F.; Insausti, M.
Bibliographical reference
Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes III. Edited by Stepp, Larry M.; Gilmozzi, Roberto; Hall, Helen J. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 7733, pp. 77334P-77334P-9 (2010).
Advertised on:
7
2010
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Modern optical and infrared astronomical sites are getting used to a
flexible way of operation, namely queue modes, allowing astronomical
observations in the most appropriate weather conditions for each
specific observing scientific program. The forecast of weather
conditions is then a mandatory issue to plan in advance the observations
queue for each night in order to exploit efficiently the astronomical
facilities with the largest high quality data output for scientific
exploitation. The precipitable water vapour is the parameter accounting
for the infrared (IR) quality of an astronomical site. The temporal
fluctuation of this parameter drastically affects the quality of the IR
data recorded at ground telescopes. An optical/IR telescope needs the
forecasting of the precipitable water vapour for a proper queue
scheduling of IR observations. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
(ORM) on the island of La Palma (Spain) presents an abrupt topography
which difficult the forecasting at this astronomical site. We discuss
the performance of a mesoscale numerical weather model (WRF, Weather
Research and Forecasting) applied to ORM region including the comparison
with local precipitable water vapour estimations from GPS (Global
Positioning System).