Mesospheric dynamics and ground-layer optical turbulence studies for the performance of ground-based telescopes ...

• Main Author: Pfrommer, Thomas
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0071527; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0071527

Modern astronomical instrumentation employs adaptive optics (AO) systems that correct for atmospheric distortion in real time in order to produce sharper images. The design and performance of these systems relies on the knowledge of the atmosphere both at low and high altitude. This thesis investigates the first kilometer of the atmosphere, the ground layer (GL), as well as the sodium layer at ~92 km. Newly-designed lunar scintillometers provide turbulence profiles of the GL, and high spatio-temporally resolved sodium profiles are obtained using a newly-designed lidar system for UBC's 6-m liquid-mirror. For ground layer adaptive optics systems, knowledge of the local height- and time-resolved GL turbulence is crucial to link local topography to optical turbulence and has been obtained with the help of three lunar scintillometers deployed in Chile, Hawaii and in the Canadian High Arctic. Results from measurements inside the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) dome indicate severe degradation of image ...