Optical turbulence profiling with SloDAR in the Canadian High Arctic

The Earth's polar regions offer unique advantages for ground-based astronomical observations with its cold and dry climate, long periods of darkness, and the potential for exquisite image quality. We present preliminary results from a site-testing campaign during nighttime from October to Novem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:SPIE Proceedings, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V
Main Authors: Maire, Jérôme, Mieda, Etsuko, Steinbring, Eric, Murowinski, Richard, Graham, James R., Carlberg, Raymond, Wright, Shelley A., Law, Nicholas M., Sivanandam, Suresh
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SPIE 2014
Subjects:
Airborne telescopes
Atmospheric thermodynamics
Atmospheric turbulence
Boundary layers
Earth (planet)
Research laboratories
Space optics
Wavefronts
Astronomical instrument
Astronomical observation
Atmospheric characterization
Atmospheric research
Canadian high arctic
Polar environments
Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors
Wave front sensors
Adaptive optics
Arctic
Canada
Ellesmere Island
Eureka
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056588
https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=207ec278-c466-4f29-abe4-40f412c64d4a
https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=207ec278-c466-4f29-abe4-40f412c64d4a
Description
Summary:The Earth's polar regions offer unique advantages for ground-based astronomical observations with its cold and dry climate, long periods of darkness, and the potential for exquisite image quality. We present preliminary results from a site-testing campaign during nighttime from October to November 2012 at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL), on a 610-m high ridge near the Eureka weatherstation on Ellesmere Island, Canada. A Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor was employed, using the Slope Detection and Ranging (SloDAR) method. This instrument (Mieda et al, this conference) was designed to measure the altitude, strength and variability of atmospheric turbulence, in particular for operation under Arctic conditions. First SloDAR optical turbulence profiles above PEARL show roughly half of the optical turbulence confined to the boundary layer, below about 1 km, with the majority of the remainder in one or two thin layers between 2 km and 5 km, or above. The median seeing during this campaign was measured to be 0.65 arcsec. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes

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