Near Infrared Sky Monitor Data from the South Pole, 2001

Infrared sky brightness data for 2.4 microns above the South Pole during the Austral winter of 2001.

Provided, as a function of time, are:

(i) the best estimate, plus the lower and upper bounds, on the 2.4 micron sky flux (depending on assumptions made),

(ii) the optical depth calculated at 2.4 microns,

(iii) the effective atmospheric temperature determined from the sky flux and optical depth,

(iv) the ground temperature, as measured by the South Pole weather station

The Antarctic plateau provides the best terrestrial location for infrared and submillimetre astronomy. The best sites lie within the Australian Antarctic Territory. From them the most sensitive observations of the faint light from distant stars and galaxies could be made. This program aims to determine where the best site is, and quantify the gains that would be achievable compared to temperate latitude observatories. Our method is to deploy an autonomous observatory, the AASTO, at various sites on the plateau and gather data remotely over the Antarctic winter on the atmospheric conditions that affect the conduct of astronomy.

File gives data for the University of New South Wales Near Infrared Sky Monitor (NISM) operated at the South Pole during winter 2001. Prepared by Jon Lawrence ([e-mail]) June 2002

The fields in this dataset are:
Date: yyyyMMDDhh
Flux: Sky Spectral Brightness (in micro Jy/ arsec^2) at 2.4 microns
FluxM: Minimum value of the Sky Spectral Brightness
FluxP: Maximum value of Sky Spectral Brightness
tau: atmospheric optical depth
temp: atmospheric temperature calculated from flux and tau (deg C)
gtemp: ground temperature from South Pole meteorological records