Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra

Geoff Sims; Michael C B Ashley; Xiangqun Cui; Jon R. Everett; Longlong Feng; Xuefei Gong; Shane Hengst; Zhongwen Hu; Craig Kulesa; Jon S. Lawrence; Daniel M. Luong-Van; Philippe Ricaud; Zhaohui Shang; John W V Storey; Lifan Wang; Huigen Yang; Ji Yang; Xu Zhou; Zhenxi Zhu

doi:10.1086/664077

Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra

Geoff Sims^*, Michael C B Ashley, Xiangqun Cui, Jon R. Everett, Longlong Feng, Xuefei Gong, Shane Hengst, Zhongwen Hu, Craig Kulesa, Jon S. Lawrence, Daniel M. Luong-Van, Philippe Ricaud, Zhaohui Shang, John W V Storey, Lifan Wang, Huigen Yang, Ji Yang, Xu Zhou, Zhenxi Zhu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The high altitudes and extremely low temperatures of the Antarctic plateau result in an exceedingly low atmospheric water vapor content. In this article we estimate the precipitable water vapor at Dome A using optical spectra of the diffuse solar irradiance in the zenith direction. The spectra were obtained from the Nigel spectrometer at Dome A during 2009. We find that the Nigel spectra contain sufficient information to extract daily average water vapor estimates, which agree with satellite observations to within ±0:22 mm. Finally, we use these water vapor estimates to model the optical and near-IR transmission (between 700 nm and 2.5 μm) of Dome A to demonstrate significant advantages gained in this wavelength range and compare it with that of Paranal and Chajnantor, two midlatitude observatories.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	74-83
Number of pages	10
Journal	Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Volume	124
Issue number	911
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/664077
Publication status	Published - Jan 2012

Access to Document

10.1086/664077

Cite this

Sims, G., Ashley, M. C. B., Cui, X., Everett, J. R., Feng, L., Gong, X., Hengst, S., Hu, Z., Kulesa, C., Lawrence, J. S., Luong-Van, D. M., Ricaud, P., Shang, Z., Storey, J. W. V., Wang, L., Yang, H., Yang, J., Zhou, X., & Zhu, Z. (2012). Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 124(911), 74-83. https://doi.org/10.1086/664077

@article{c0abadb17a454e9bb98274f92e0eeb3d,

title = "Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra",

abstract = "The high altitudes and extremely low temperatures of the Antarctic plateau result in an exceedingly low atmospheric water vapor content. In this article we estimate the precipitable water vapor at Dome A using optical spectra of the diffuse solar irradiance in the zenith direction. The spectra were obtained from the Nigel spectrometer at Dome A during 2009. We find that the Nigel spectra contain sufficient information to extract daily average water vapor estimates, which agree with satellite observations to within ±0:22 mm. Finally, we use these water vapor estimates to model the optical and near-IR transmission (between 700 nm and 2.5 μm) of Dome A to demonstrate significant advantages gained in this wavelength range and compare it with that of Paranal and Chajnantor, two midlatitude observatories.",

author = "Geoff Sims and Ashley, {Michael C B} and Xiangqun Cui and Everett, {Jon R.} and Longlong Feng and Xuefei Gong and Shane Hengst and Zhongwen Hu and Craig Kulesa and Lawrence, {Jon S.} and Luong-Van, {Daniel M.} and Philippe Ricaud and Zhaohui Shang and Storey, {John W V} and Lifan Wang and Huigen Yang and Ji Yang and Xu Zhou and Zhenxi Zhu",

year = "2012",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1086/664077",

language = "English",

volume = "124",

pages = "74--83",

journal = "Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific",

issn = "0004-6280",

publisher = "University of Chicago Press",

number = "911",

}

Sims, G, Ashley, MCB, Cui, X, Everett, JR, Feng, L, Gong, X, Hengst, S, Hu, Z, Kulesa, C, Lawrence, JS, Luong-Van, DM, Ricaud, P, Shang, Z, Storey, JWV, Wang, L, Yang, H, Yang, J, Zhou, X & Zhu, Z 2012, 'Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra', Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. 124, no. 911, pp. 74-83. https://doi.org/10.1086/664077

TY - JOUR

T1 - Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra

AU - Sims, Geoff

AU - Ashley, Michael C B

AU - Cui, Xiangqun

AU - Everett, Jon R.

AU - Feng, Longlong

AU - Gong, Xuefei

AU - Hengst, Shane

AU - Hu, Zhongwen

AU - Kulesa, Craig

AU - Lawrence, Jon S.

AU - Luong-Van, Daniel M.

AU - Ricaud, Philippe

AU - Shang, Zhaohui

AU - Storey, John W V

AU - Wang, Lifan

AU - Yang, Huigen

AU - Yang, Ji

AU - Zhou, Xu

AU - Zhu, Zhenxi

PY - 2012/1

Y1 - 2012/1

N2 - The high altitudes and extremely low temperatures of the Antarctic plateau result in an exceedingly low atmospheric water vapor content. In this article we estimate the precipitable water vapor at Dome A using optical spectra of the diffuse solar irradiance in the zenith direction. The spectra were obtained from the Nigel spectrometer at Dome A during 2009. We find that the Nigel spectra contain sufficient information to extract daily average water vapor estimates, which agree with satellite observations to within ±0:22 mm. Finally, we use these water vapor estimates to model the optical and near-IR transmission (between 700 nm and 2.5 μm) of Dome A to demonstrate significant advantages gained in this wavelength range and compare it with that of Paranal and Chajnantor, two midlatitude observatories.

AB - The high altitudes and extremely low temperatures of the Antarctic plateau result in an exceedingly low atmospheric water vapor content. In this article we estimate the precipitable water vapor at Dome A using optical spectra of the diffuse solar irradiance in the zenith direction. The spectra were obtained from the Nigel spectrometer at Dome A during 2009. We find that the Nigel spectra contain sufficient information to extract daily average water vapor estimates, which agree with satellite observations to within ±0:22 mm. Finally, we use these water vapor estimates to model the optical and near-IR transmission (between 700 nm and 2.5 μm) of Dome A to demonstrate significant advantages gained in this wavelength range and compare it with that of Paranal and Chajnantor, two midlatitude observatories.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863045973&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1086/664077

DO - 10.1086/664077

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84863045973

SN - 0004-6280

VL - 124

SP - 74

EP - 83

JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

JF - Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

IS - 911

ER -

Precipitable water vapor above Dome A, Antarctica, determined from diffuse optical sky spectra

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this