AASTINO: Submillimetre Atmospheric Site Testing Data from Dome C, Antarctica

Submillimetre site testing data from the Automated Astrophysical Site Testing Observatory (AASTINO) at Dome C, Antarctica. The dataset includes zenith optical depth at 350 microns, sky temperature, and atmospheric brightness temperature measurements from the SUMMIT instrument, recorded during the austral summer of 2000/2001. Results are published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, with additional data from MASS and SODAR instruments added for 2003-2005.

Use Cases

• Modeling atmospheric transparency for telescope planning based on zenith optical depth measurements.
• Analyzing temporal variations in sky conditions based on time-series temperature and optical depth data.
• Calibrating atmospheric models using grey body brightness temperature calculations.
• Assessing site suitability for submillimetre observatories based on long-term Antarctic data.

Strengths

• Data includes error estimates for optical depth, calculated via error propagation.
• Specific flag values (99.00 or 999.0) indicate known analysis algorithm errors.
• Results are peer-reviewed and published in astronomical society publications.

Limitations

• Metadata for the 2009-2010 update is incomplete; columns, sample data, file formats, and size are unknown.
• Last updated 2005-02-13 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
• Row count for the entire dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

AU_AADC (Australian Antarctic Data Centre), NASA Earthdata

Collection Method

Measurements from the SUMMIT (Sub-Millimetre Tipper) experiment on the AASTINO observatory.

Time Range

Primary data from Dec 2000 - Jan 2001; additional data for 2003-2005.

Freshness

Last updated 2005-02 -13 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Dome C, Antarctica