The 492 GHz Atmospheric Opacity at the Geographic South Pole

Details The 492 GHz Atmospheric Opacity at the Geographic South Pole The 492 GHz Atmospheric Opacity at the Geographic South Pole

May 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996aas...188.5413c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 188th AAS Meeting, #54.13; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.906

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present narrow-bandwidth submillimeter-wave sky opacity measurements made from the South Pole between 17 February and 17 November 1995, a period which includes an entire Austral winter. These measurements were made with the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO) using a heterodyne receiver tuned to a band which includes the 492 GHz fine-structure line of neutral atomic carbon. From day 100 to day 322 in 1995, the zenith opacity was below 0.84 neper/airmass 75% of the time, below 0.72 neper/airmass 50% of the time, and below 0.57 neper/airmass 25% of the time. The South Pole is thus an excellent site for submillimeter-wave astronomy throughout the Austral winter and spring. The functional relationship between measured precipitable water vapor and 492 GHz opacity shows that a significant fraction of the opacity at 492 GHz is caused by atmospheric constituents other than water vapor, indicating the need for accurate, site-dependent atmospheric modeling when opacity measurements at other frequencies are extrapolated into the submillimeter. This reserach was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under a cooperative agreement with the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA), grant number NSF OPP 89-20223. CARA is a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.

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