Local monitoring of atmospheric transparency from the NASA MERRA-2 global assimilation system. (arXiv:1906.01967v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Guyonnet_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Guyonnet</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dagoret_Campagne_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. Dagoret-Campagne</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mondrik_N/0/1/0/all/0/1">N. Mondrik</a>
Ground-based astronomy has to correct astronomical observations from the
impact of the atmospheric transparency and its variability. The current
objective of several observatories is to achieve a sub-percent level monitoring
of atmospheric transmission. A promising approach has been to combine internal
calibration of the observations with various external meteorological probes,
upon availability and depending on quality. In this paper we investigate the
use of the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and
Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) which is a global climate monitoring project
that renders freely available for any given site, at any time, all the
parameters constraining atmospheric transmission. This paper demonstrates the
extraction of the relevant atmospheric parameters for optical astronomy at two
sites: Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Cerro Tololo International Observatory in Chile.
The temporal variability for the past eight years (annual, overnight and
hourly), as well as the spatial gradients of ozone, precipitable water vapor,
and aerosol optical depth is presented and their respective impacts on the
atmospheric transparency is analyzed.
Ground-based astronomy has to correct astronomical observations from the
impact of the atmospheric transparency and its variability. The current
objective of several observatories is to achieve a sub-percent level monitoring
of atmospheric transmission. A promising approach has been to combine internal
calibration of the observations with various external meteorological probes,
upon availability and depending on quality. In this paper we investigate the
use of the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and
Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) which is a global climate monitoring project
that renders freely available for any given site, at any time, all the
parameters constraining atmospheric transmission. This paper demonstrates the
extraction of the relevant atmospheric parameters for optical astronomy at two
sites: Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Cerro Tololo International Observatory in Chile.
The temporal variability for the past eight years (annual, overnight and
hourly), as well as the spatial gradients of ozone, precipitable water vapor,
and aerosol optical depth is presented and their respective impacts on the
atmospheric transparency is analyzed.
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