225 GHz Atmospheric Opacity Measurements from Two Arctic Sites

• Main Authors: Matsushita, S., Chen, M. -T., Martin-Cocher, P., Asada, K., Chen, C. -P., Inoue, M., Paine, S., Turner, D., Steinbring, E.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2012
• Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics astro-ph.IM; FOS Physical sciences; Arctic; Canada; Ellesmere Island; Eureka; Greenland; Greenland Icecap; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1210.5309; https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.5309

We report the latest results of 225 GHz atmospheric opacity measurements from two arctic sites; one on high coastal terrain near the Eureka weather station, on Ellesmere Island, Canada, and the other at the Summit Station near the peak of the Greenland icecap. This is a campaign to search for a site to deploy a new telescope for submillimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry and THz astronomy in the northern hemisphere. Since 2011, we have obtained 3 months of winter data near Eureka, and about one year of data at the Summit Station. The results indicate that these sites offer a highly transparent atmosphere for observations in submillimeter wavelengths. The Summit Station is particularly excellent, and its zenith opacity at 225 GHz is statistically similar to the Atacama Large Milllimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile. In winter, the opacity at the Summit Station is even comparable to that observed at the South Pole. : IAU Symp. 288, in press (4 pages, 3 figures)