Simulating the night-time astronomical seeing at Dome A using Polar WRF
ABSTRACT In Antarctica, excellent astronomical observing conditions have been measured at Dome A during night-time (or polar winter). This study investigates the performance of the Polar-optimized version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (Polar WRF, PWRF hereafter) for simulating the night-ti...
Published in: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Oxford University Press (OUP)
2022
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac1930 https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/mnras/stac1930/45050047/stac1930.pdf https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-pdf/515/2/1788/45084814/stac1930.pdf |
Summary: | ABSTRACT In Antarctica, excellent astronomical observing conditions have been measured at Dome A during night-time (or polar winter). This study investigates the performance of the Polar-optimized version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (Polar WRF, PWRF hereafter) for simulating the night-time astronomical seeing at Dome A. The seeing values were estimated by a seeing model, which used the PWRF-simulated wind speed and temperature as inputs. Furthermore, three methods to obtain the boundary layer height in the seeing model have been examined. The estimated seeing agrees well with 50-d measurements from the KunLun Differential Image Motion Monitor at Dome A during the night-time of 2019; the correlation coefficients range from 0.62 to 0.71. The PWRF-simulated meteorological parameters indicate that low wind speed and strong temperature inversion (when a large gradient Richardson number always occurs) near the ground can lead to good seeing condition. The results suggest that the PWRF model could be a reliable tool for scheduling observational astronomy at Dome A during night-time. |
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