Other
Scientific paper
Dec 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...181.7403c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #74.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1238
Other
1
Scientific paper
Observations with site test telescopes and micro-temperature instrumentation have been made at several potential sites for the Columbus Telescope and for other telescopes in the Mt. Graham Astrophysical Area and at the site for the Multiple Mirror Telescope on Mt. Hopkins(1). Determinations have been made of the contribution to seeing by the local atmospheric boundary layer, the component of seeing that is primarily responsible for the difference in seeing quality from one site to the next. The turbulent local boundary layer is created by the ground layer of the mountain being radiatively cooled at night. Air in contact with the ground layer is itself then cooled. Winds stir up this cooled air and create a turbulent layer of disturbed air immediately above the site. Two dominant influences on the boundary layer are the topography of the mountain site and the presence of trees. A gentle, rounded mountain top or a knoll on a ridge line suffers from degraded turbulence whereas a sharp, isolated mountain peak contains a superior, low-turbulence boundary layer. This is because for a mountain with a broad profile considerable air first interacts with the lower foreground mountain surface, becomes turbulent by mixing, and is then forced to flow up and over the top of the mountain. On the other hand, a sharp isolated peak permits easy passage of its newly-found turbulent products around its flanks, and the remaining turbulent layer that is carried over the top of the site is considerably thinner and less turbulent. Considering trees, trees tend to hold in cold air near the mountain surface, creating a reservoir of cold air, whereas barren mountain surfaces are more readily swept clean of their cooled surface air. Thus, somewhat less turbulence is associated with a mountain having few trees. (1) Observations reported herein were obtained with the Multiple Mirror Telescope, a facility operated jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona.
Blair Curt N.
Cromwell Richard H.
Woolf Nancy J.
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