Optical Turbulence Characterization for Ground-Based Astronomy

Abstract: The optical turbulence, which creates perturbations of the wavefronts coming from the stars, is caused by small-scale fluctuations in the index of refraction of the atmosphere and is a problem for astronomers because it limits the maximum resolution of the ground-based telescopes. One way of identifying the best sites to build astronomical observatories, where the influence of the optical turbulence is as small as possible, is to use the standard meteorological parameters to get a first idea of the potential of a site. In the first part of this thesis the three sites on the Internal Antarctic Plateau that are the most interesting for astronomers (Dome A, Dome C and the South Pole) are investigated using the operational analyses of the ECMWF and a ranking of these three sites is presented.The second part of this thesis focuses on the ability of the mesoscale model Meso-NH to simulate the optical turbulence as well as the wind speed at Mt Graham (AZ, USA). A rich sample of measurements of the vertical distribution of the optical turbulence, the largest sample used in this type of study so far, is used to calibrate the Meso-NH model and to quantify its ability to simulate the optical turbulence. The measurements are distributed over different periods of the year thus making it possible to evaluate the performance of the model in different seasons. Both the vertical distribution of the optical turbulence and the astroclimatic parameters (seeing, wavefront coherence time and isoplanatic angle) are investigated.