Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-nwzlb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T15:45:36.564Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Revealing the onset of free convection in terrestrial planet atmospheres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Sebastian G. Els
Affiliation:
AURA–NIO, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile email: sels@ctio.noao.edu
Konstantinos Vogiatzis
Affiliation:
AURA–NIO, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA email: voyages@noao.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The site testing program for the Thirty-Meter-Telescope (TMT) is monitoring the seeing conditions above several mountains. Observations are presented which show that the ground layer seeing (0 m–500 m above the ground) is influenced by the onset of free convection. It is shown that under radiation dominated conditions, indicating free convection of the atmosphere above the site, the occurence of the very best seeing conditions is supressed. A quantitative threshold for these conditions is given, allowing to estimate the shortterm future stability of the ground layer seeing.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

Els, S.G. & Vogiatzis, K. 2006, SPIE 6267, 67Google Scholar
Monin, A.M. & Obukhov, A.M. 1954, Geofiz. Inst. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 24 (151), 163Google Scholar
Skidmore, W., Schoeck, M., Tokovinin, A., et al. 2004, SPIE 5489, 154Google Scholar
Skidmore, W., Travouillon, T. & Riddle, R. 2006, SPIE 6267, 64Google Scholar
Tokovinin, A. 2002, PSAP 114, 1156CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tokovinin, A., Kornilov, V., Shatsky, N. & Vozyakova, O. 2003, MNRAS 434, 891CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Travouillon, T. 2006, SPIE 6267, 65Google Scholar
Walker, D.E., Schwarz, H. & Bustos, E. 2006, SPIE 6267, 87Google Scholar