Results of site testing using an aerosol, backscatter lidar at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
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Data publicació2010-06-01
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Abstract
The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, is home of many
astronomical facilities for its high sky quality. In the context of the Extremely Large Telescope Design Study, two
intensive lidar campaigns were performed at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory near the Jacobus Kapteyn
Telescope between 9th and 11th July 2007 and between 26th May and 14th June 2008. The goal of the campaign was to
characterize the atmosphere in terms of planetary boundary layer (PBL) height and aerosol stratification vs. synoptic
conditions. Three typical synoptic situations were found which, respectively, privileged the intrusion of aerosols from
marine/oceanic, anthropogenic and Saharan origin. All measurements revealed a multi-layer stratification with a mean
PBL height of 546 ± 198 m agl and top layers as high as ~ 8400 m asl. As a by-product an estimate of the aerosol optical
thickness was also obtained and compared to the total atmospheric extinction coefficient measured by the Carlsberg
Meridian Telescope. Except in the presence of Saharan dust the aerosol optical thickness is very low: the average values
are 0.0405 at 532 nm and 0.0055 at 1064 nm. In the presence of Saharan dust values of 0.233 and 0.157 were found at
532 and 1064 nm, respectively. The proportion of aerosol optical thickness contained in the layers above the PBL
against that contained in the PBL is in all cases greater or equal to 50 % which emphasizes the importance of the upper
layers in the scattering and absorption of astronomical signals. Additionally, for the first time spaceborne lidar
measurements were also compared to a ground lidar for evaluating the use of a spaceborne active instrument for aerosol
content monitoring in an astronomical site
CitacióSicard, M. [et al.]. Results of site testing using an aerosol, backscatter lidar at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. "Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society", 01 Juny 2010, vol. 405, núm. 1, p. 129-142.
ISSN0035-8711
Versió de l'editorhttps://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/405/1/129/1020912
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