Near Infrared Sky Monitor Data from the South Pole, 2001

• Other Authors: BURTON, MICHAEL (hasPrincipalInvestigator), BURTON, MICHAEL (processor), LAWRENCE, JON S (hasPrincipalInvestigator), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
• Subjects: climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere; imageryBaseMapsEarthCover; ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY; EARTH SCIENCE; ATMOSPHERE; ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE; BOUNDARY LAYER TEMPERATURE; SURFACE TEMPERATURE; VERTICAL PROFILES; UPPER AIR TEMPERATURE; CONVECTION; ATMOSPHERIC WINDS; TURBULENCE; EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > WIND DYNAMICS > VERTICAL WIND VELOCITY/SPEED; WIND SHEAR; BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE; SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING; INFRARED WAVELENGTHS; INFRARED FLUX; INFRARED RADIANCE; THERMAL INFRARED; ASTRONOMY; ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS; DATE; FLUX; FLUX MINIMUM; FLUX P; GROUND TEMPERATURE; INFRARED; RADIATIVE TRANSFER; SITE TESTING; TAU; CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > South Pole; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; VERTICAL LOCATION > BOUNDARY LAYER; TROPOSPHERE; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Austral; Australian Antarctic Territory; Antarc*; Antarctica; South pole
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/near-infrared-sky-pole-2001/699578; https://doi.org/10.4225/15/514939F3F378F; https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_1214_NISM_2001; http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536

Infrared sky brightness data for 2.4 microns above the South Pole during the Austral winter of 2001. Provided, as a function of time, are: (i) the best estimate, plus the lower and upper bounds, on the 2.4 micron sky flux (depending on assumptions made), (ii) the optical depth calculated at 2.4 microns, (iii) the effective atmospheric temperature determined from the sky flux and optical depth, (iv) the ground temperature, as measured by the South Pole weather station The Antarctic plateau provides the best terrestrial location for infrared and submillimetre astronomy. The best sites lie within the Australian Antarctic Territory. From them the most sensitive observations of the faint light from distant stars and galaxies could be made. This program aims to determine where the best site is, and quantify the gains that would be achievable compared to temperate latitude observatories. Our method is to deploy an autonomous observatory, the AASTO, at various sites on the plateau and gather data remotely over the Antarctic winter on the atmospheric conditions that affect the conduct of astronomy. File gives data for the University of New South Wales Near Infrared Sky Monitor (NISM) operated at the South Pole during winter 2001. Prepared by Jon Lawrence ([e-mail]) June 2002 The fields in this dataset are: Date: yyyyMMDDhh Flux: Sky Spectral Brightness (in micro Jy/ arsec^2) at 2.4 microns FluxM: Minimum value of the Sky Spectral Brightness FluxP: Maximum value of Sky Spectral Brightness tau: atmospheric optical depth temp: atmospheric temperature calculated from flux and tau (deg C) gtemp: ground temperature from South Pole meteorological records