Submillimeter Atmospheric Transparency at Maunakea, at the South Pole, and at Chajnantor

• Published in: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• Main Authors: Radford, Simon J. E., Peterson, Jeffery B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2016
• Subjects: atmospheric effects; instrumentation: miscellaneous; site testing; submillimeter: general; Pacific; South Pole; Reeves; Paine; Rivera; Valladares; Antarc*; Antarctica; South pole
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/128/965/075001

For a systematic assessment of submillimeter observing conditions at different sites, we constructed tipping radiometers to measure the broad band atmospheric transparency in the window around 350 μm wavelength. The tippers were deployed on Maunakea, Hawaii, at the South Pole, and in the vicinity of Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. Identical instruments permit direct comparison of these sites. Observing conditions at the South Pole and in the Chajnantor area are better than on Maunakea. Simultaneous measurements with two tippers demonstrate conditions at the summit of Cerro Chajnantor are significantly better than on the Chajnantor plateau. © 2016 Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Received 2015 November 20; accepted 2016 February 17; published 2016 June 10. Many thanks to the people who contributed to this project over the years. E. Schartman constructed the instruments and initially deployed them; R. Freund designed the electronics; the South Pole winterover scientists kept the instrument running; S. Baca, E. Bufil, R. Chamberlin, A. Guyer, P. Nelson, K. Aird, E. Leitch, D. Marrone, R. Bustos, J. Cortes, C. Jara, F. Muñoz, G. Gull, C. Henderson, A. Otárola, R. Reeves, R. Rivera, and G. Valladares, provided invaluable help with deployments; S. Paine kindly measured the window transparencies; P. Ade provided some of the filters; M. Holdaway provided advice on interpretation; E. Young allowed us to use his FTS; K. Xiao did the added window experiments at the South Pole; and the referee offered several constructive comments. APEX, AST/RO, CSO, CBI, QUIET, JCMT, NRAO/ALMA, SMA, and SPT provided space, power, and network connections. APEX provides open access to their meteorological data. Access to Cerro Chajnantor was possible because the University of Tokyo constructed a road. Development of the instruments was supported by Carnegie Mellon University and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Deployment to the South Pole was supported by the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, a National ...