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Reanalysis of the 1992 South Pole Millimetre-Wavelength Atmospheric Opacity Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Richard A. Chamberlin
Richard A. Chamberlin*
Affiliation:
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
*
BE-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

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In 1992 an NRAO 225-GHz site survey heterodyne radiometer was placed at the Geographical South Pole. The instrument operated over an entire annual cycle and provided direct measurements of the millimetre-wave sky brightness temperature as a function of zenith angle. Interpreted in a single-slab ‘skydip’ radiation transfer model of the atmosphere, these sky brightness measurements provided a time series of the millimetre atmospheric opacity. Statistics derived from this opacity time series were important for making comparisons with other candidate millimetre and sub-millimetre wave astronomy sites. This paper reexamines the 1992 measurements and the original analysis. Details of the skydip fit model, radiometer gain error, instrument stability, and a mid-season replacement to a window in the instrument enclosure combined to cause a modest under-reporting of the atmospheric opacity in previous reports. Unchanged are earlier conclusions that dry air makes a significant contribution to the total opacity at 225 GHz.

Keywords

instrumentation: miscellaneousmethods: data analysissite testingatmospheric effects
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , 2004 , pp. 264 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2004

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