Bibcode
García-Lorenzo, B.; Castro-Almazán, J. A.; Eff-Darwich, A.; Muñoz-Tuñón, C.; Pinilla-Alonso, N.; Rodriguez-Espinosa, J. M.; Romero, I.
Referencia bibliográfica
Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XIV. Edited by Picard, Richard H.; Schäfer, Klaus; Comeron, Adolfo; Kassianov, Evgueni I.; Mertens, Christopher J.. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 7475 (2009)., pp. 74751H-74751H-11 (2009).
Advertised on:
9
2009
Número de citas
0
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Descripción
The requirements for current large and future extremely large telescopes
as well as the quick development of IR instrumentation demand a proper
characterization of precipitable water vapour (PWV) above astronomical
sites. A comparison of PWV estimations from a photometer and a GPS
(Global Positioning System) above the Observatorio del Roque de los
Muchachos (ORM, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain) was carried out and it
was found a linear relation between both measurements. Such relationship
will allow the calibration of the GPS measurements recorded at ORM for
the period June 2001- December 2008. These large time series of PWV
estimations from GPS were used to perform a statistical analysis of
water vapour content above this astronomical site. Average annual value
of night-time PWV of 4.86 mm was found. It was also found a clear
seasonal behavior of the PWV above ORM, with smaller water-vapour
columns during winter nights (average 3.36 mm). The largest values of
PWV are reached in the summer nights (average 6.75 mm). The data
indicate that a significant percentage of nights (~38%) are well suited
for thermal infrared observations (with PWV < 3 mm), and 71% of
nights present a "fair" or better IR observation opportunity at ORM.