Related papers: Global Weather for the Astronomical Observatories
Over the past few years a major effort has been put into the exploration of potential sites for the deployment of submillimetre astronomical facilities. Amongst the most important sites are Dome C and Dome A on the Antarctic Plateau, and…
The knowledge of atmospheric parameters -- such as temperature, pressure, and humidity -- is very important for a proper reconstruction of air showers, especially with the fluorescence technique. The Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS)…
Meteorological data have been used to calculate refractive index fluctuations - the indicator of optical instability of the Earth's atmosphere. The calculations were made for standard pressure levels of the atmosphere in winter and summer.…
We set out to evaluate the potential of the Colombian Andes for millimeter-wave astronomical observations. Previous studies for astronomical site testing in this region have suggested that nighttime humidity and cloud cover conditions make…
The atmospheric water vapor content above the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) obtained from Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is presented. GPS measurements have been evaluated by comparison with 940nm-radiometer observations.…
From the South Pole, microthermal turbulence within a narrow surface boundary layer some 200m thick provides the dominant contribution to the astronomical seeing. We present results for the seeing at a wavelength of 2.4um. The narrow…
Ground-based interferometers are not perfectly all-sky instruments, and it is important to account for their behavior when considering the distribution of detected events. In particular, the LIGO detectors are most sensitive to sources…
Our current sampling of the near-Earth space environment is wholly insufficient to measure the highly variable processes therein and make predictions on par with lower atmospheric weather. We sketch out the scientific rationale for a…
Atmospheric monitoring is an integral part of the design of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), as atmospheric conditions affect the observations by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT) in multiple ways. The variable optical…
The Earth's atmosphere affects ground-based astronomical observations. Scattering, absorption, and radiation processes deteriorate the signal-to-noise ratio of the data received. For scheduling astronomical observations it is, therefore,…
To explore the issue of performing a non-interactive numerical weather forecast with an operational global model in assist of astronomical observing, we use the Xu-Randall cloud scheme and the Trinquet-Vernin AXP seeing model with the…
The possibilities of organizing an observation service for solar activity in order to provide space weather forecasting are considered. The most promising at this stage is the creation of a ground-based observation network. Such a network…
The internal antarctic plateau revealed in the last years to be a site with interesting potentialities for the astronomical applications due to the extreme dryness and low temperatures, the typical high altitude of the plateau, the weak…
Precipitable water vapour (PWV) strongly affects the quality of data obtained from millimetre- and submillimetre-wave astronomical observations, such as those for cosmic microwave background measurements. Some of these observatories have…
We present comprehensive and reliable statistics of high altitude wind speeds and the tropospheric flows at the location of five important astronomical observatories. Statistical analysis exclusively of high altitude winds point to La Palma…
Rainfall is an important variable to be able to monitor and forecast across Africa, due to its impact on agriculture, food security, climate related diseases and public health. Numerical Weather Models (NWM) are an important component of…
More than 635 000 positional observations (mostly radiotechnical) of planets and spacecraft (1961-2010), have been used for estimating possible changes of the gravitation constant, the solar mass, and semi-major axes of planets, as well as…
To evaluate the capability of numerical cloud forecast as a meteorological reference for astronomical observation, we compare the cloud forecast from NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) model for total, layer and convective cloud with…
Geostationary observations offer the unique opportunity to resolve the diurnal cycle of the Earth's Radiation Budget at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), crucial for climate-change studies. However, a drawback of the continuous temporal…
Thanks to the first mm studies on the territory of the former USSR in the early 1960s and succeeding sub-mm measurements in the 1970s - early 1980s at wavelengths up to 0.34 mm, a completely unique astroclimate was revealed in the Eastern…