A mobile polar atmospheric parameter measurement system: II. First atmospheric turbulence observation at Antarctic Taishan Station

• Main Authors: Qiguo, Tian, Peng, Jiang, Xiaoqing, Wu, Xinmiao, Jin, Shan, Lu, Tuo, Ji, Bo, Chai, Shaohua, Zhang, Hongyan, Zhou
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2015
• Subjects: Atmosphere; Advances in Polar Science; Antarc*; Antarctic; Polar Science
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2568/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2568/1/A20150203.pdf

This is the second paper of a series devoted to atmospheric optical turbulence Cn 2 observation using a mobile polar atmospheric parameter measurement system. We present the initial results of Cn 2 measurement at Antarctic Taishan Station using micro-thermal sensors and a three-dimensional sonic anemometer at height ~2.0 m above the snow surface. The site testing experiments were carried out during the 30th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE). We collected about 1 000 h of data between 30 December 2013 and 10 February 2014. The Cn2 curve exhibits clear daily structures, with two peaks around midnight and midday and two troughs around 7:30 and 17:00 local time (UTC+5). The mean Cn2 is 2.7×10−15 m−2/3 and the 25th and 75th percentiles of the Cn2 cumulative distribution are 9.6×10−16 m−2/3 and 6.2×10−15 m−2/3, respectively. Meteorological parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and air pressure are also presented.