Weather and seeing on Mauna Kea

Bely, Pierre-Yves

doi:10.1086/132018

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Water vapour statistics based on 225 GHz optical depth of 0.08 suggest a column abundance of 1.6 mm of H 2 O (http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/telescopes-and-sites/observing-condition-constraints/mk-water-vapour-statistics). This is similar to the 1.2 mm obtained from radiosounding data (Bely, ). The coefficients ψ wa and ψ ws are parameterised by simple formulas in Nunez ().…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 89%

State of High‐Altitude Permafrost on Tropical Maunakea Volcano, Hawaii

Schörghofer

Leopold

Yoshikawa

2017

Permafrost & Periglacial

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One of the most unusual occurrences of sporadic permafrost is on the summit plateau of Maunakea volcano on Hawaii Island, where permafrost was documented in two cinder‐cone craters in the 1970s. To investigate the state of this permafrost, we acquired multi‐year ground temperature data and conducted electrical resistivity and ground penetrating radar surveys. The two ice bodies still exist, but one has shrunk in volume by an order of magnitude and is expected to disappear soon. The other is still more than 50 m wide. We also prospected the summit region for additional permafrost bodies, based on insolation modelling, temperature probing and geomorphological indicators, but none was found. Permafrost occurs preferentially in the interiors of craters with a closed basin, even though there are exterior slopes that receive less solar radiation annually. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 89%

State of High‐Altitude Permafrost on Tropical Maunakea Volcano, Hawaii

Schörghofer

Leopold

Yoshikawa

2017

Permafrost & Periglacial

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“…several moderately high regions on the ice plateau immediately to the west where mean winds are much lower. In particular, the zones marked with the symbol * onFigure 6bare all over 1500m high and have mean wind speeds lower than 4 m/s, a value comparable to the conditions found in Mauna Loa (5 m/s;Bely 1987), Paranal in the Atacama Desert (6.5 m/s,Martin et al, 2000) or on the plateaus of Eastern Antarctica (3 m/s;Aristidi et al, 2005b).…”

supporting

confidence: 59%

Application of a regional model to astronomical site testing in western Antarctica

Falvey

Rojo

2016

Theor Appl Climatol

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Abstract. The quality of ground based astronomical observations are significantly affected by local atmospheric conditions, and the search for the best sites has led to the construction of observatories at increasingly remote locations, including recent initiatives on the high plateaus of East Antarctica where the calm, dry and cloud free conditions during winter are recognized as amongst the best in the world. Site selection is an important phase of any observatory development project, and candidate sites must be tested in the field with specialized equipment, a process both time consuming and costly. A potential means of screening site locations before embarking on field testing is through the use of regional climate models (RCM). In this study we describe the application of the Polar version of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model to the preliminary site suitability assessment of a hitherto unstudied region in West Antarctica.Numerical simulations with WRF were carried out for the winter (MJJA) of 2011 at 3 km and 1 km spatial resolution over a region centered on the Ellsworth mountain range. Comparison with observations of surface wind speed and direction, temperature and specific humidity at nine automatic weather stations indicate that the model performed well in capturing the mean values and time variability of these variables. Credible features revealed by the model include zones of high winds over the southernmost part of the Ellsworth Mountains, a deep thermal inversion over the Ronne-Fincher Ice Shelf and strong west to east moisture gradient across the entire study area. Comparison of simulated cloud fraction with a CALIPSO spacebourne Lidar climatology indicates that the model may underestimate cloud occurrence, a problem that has been noted in previous studies. A simple scoring system was applied to reveal the most promising locations. The results of this study indicate that the WRF model is capable of providing useful guidance during the initial site selection stage of project development.

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“…In other words the winter months have more turbulent conditions than the summer months. Studies of seeing from Mauna Kea show that this seasonal behavior of seeing correlates with this very well [15,16,17]. There is relatively little seasonal variation in for Antofagasta, Chile (Fig.…”

Section: Richardson Numbermentioning

confidence: 66%

Improved upper winds models for several astronomical observatories

Roberts¹,

Bradford²

2011

Opt. Express

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Abstract:An understanding of wind speed and direction as a function of height are critical to the proper modeling of atmospheric turbulence. We have used radiosonde data from launch sites near significant astronomical observatories and created mean profiles of wind speed and direction and have also computed Richardson number profiles. Using data from the last 30 years, we extend the 1977 Greenwood wind profile to include parameters that show seasonal variations and differences in location. The added information from our models is useful for the design of adaptive optics systems and other imaging systems. Our analysis of the Richardson number suggests that persistent turbulent layers may be inferred when low values are present in our long term averaged data. Knowledge of the presence of these layers may help with planning for adaptive optics and laser communications.

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Weather and seeing on Mauna Kea

Cited by 25 publications

References 6 publications

State of High‐Altitude Permafrost on Tropical Maunakea Volcano, Hawaii

State of High‐Altitude Permafrost on Tropical Maunakea Volcano, Hawaii

Application of a regional model to astronomical site testing in western Antarctica

Improved upper winds models for several astronomical observatories

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