c ○ ESO 2005 Astronomy Astrophysics

• Main Authors: E. Aristidi, K. Agabi, M. Azouit, E. Fossat, J. Vernin, T. Travouillon, J. S. Lawrence, C. Meyer, J. W. V. Storey, B. Halter, W. L. Roth, V. Walden
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Antarctic; South Pole; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; South pole
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.296.2777; http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jacara/Papers/pdf/aa_wind.pdf

Abstract. A good astronomical site must fulfill several criteria including low atmospheric turbulence and low wind speeds. It is therefore important to have a detailed knowledge of the temperature and wind conditions of a location considered for future astronomical research. Antarctica has unique atmospheric conditions that have already been exploited at the South Pole station. Dome C, a site located on a local maximum of the Antarctic plateau, is likely to have even better conditions. In this paper we present the analysis of two decades of wind speed measurements taken at Dome C by an automated weather station (AWS). We also present temperature and wind speed profiles taken over four Antarctic summers using balloon-borne weather sondes. We will show that as well as having one of the lowest average wind speed ever recorded at an existing or potential observatory, Dome C also has an extremely stable upper atmosphere and a very low inversion layer. Key words. site testing – atmospheric effects – balloons 1.