Atmospheric transmission at Dome C between 0 and 10 THz

• Published in: EAS Publications Series
• Main Authors: Schneider, N., Minier, V., Durand, G., Tremblin, P., Urban, Joachim, Baron, P.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Earth and Related Environmental Sciences; Atmospheric transmissions; Caltech; Antarctica; Time periods; Atacama; Precipitable water vapor; Forward models; Model calculations; Concordia Station; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1051/eas/1040046; https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/139644

We present model calculations of the atmospheric transmission for DOME C in Antarctica for frequencies up to 10THz (30 μm) using the forward model MOLIERE-5. Measurements of precipitable water vapor (pwv), obtained by the SUMMIT radiometer installed at the Concordia station during 2008 and working at a wavelength of 200μm, are translated into atmospheric transmission using MOLIERE. Quartiles of transmission, calculated from 200μm data are extrapolated to 350 μm and compared to the CCAT (Cornell-Caltech Atacama Telescope) site in Chile. It turns out that for 25% of the time at DOME C (CCAT), the transmission is around 20% (5%) at 200μm. This corresponds to a pwv of 0.18mm for DOME C. At 350μm, for 50% of time at DOME C (CCAT) the transmission is around 55% (25%). This corresponds to a pwv of 0.22mm for DOME C. These results show that DOME C is one of the best observing sites on Earth for submm-astronomy with respect to high atmospheric transmission over long time periods