Shikhovtsev Artem Y, Kovadlo Pavel G, Baron Philippe
Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk 664033, Russia.
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Koganei 184-8795, Japan.
Sensors (Basel). 2025 Mar 28;25(7):2144. doi: 10.3390/s25072144.
Modern sensing technologies used in the field of ground-based telescopes still present several challenges. First of all, these challenges are associated with the development of new-generation instruments for astronomical observations and with the influence of Earth's atmosphere on radiation in various ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. The atmosphere is often the main factor determining the technical characteristics of the instruments in both the optical and millimeter ranges. In particular, for millimeter/submillimeter telescopes, water vapor is the main gas that determines atmospheric opacity. The correct assessment of water vapor makes it possible to estimate the optical opacity of the atmosphere and, on this basis, the capabilities of the millimeter/submillimeter telescope and the limitations of its use in the mode of very long baseline interferometry. Many studies seek to effectively characterize water vapor content and dynamics for site-testing purposes regarding ground-based millimeter and submillimeter telescope application. In the present article, we study the water vapor content within a fairly large region, which has been poorly covered in the modern literature. Based on the ERA-5 reanalysis data as a site-testing-oriented tool, we obtained spatial distributions of the precipitable water vapor (PWV) within a large region (20∘N-70∘N, 35∘E-120∘E). These distributions of PWV were corrected with respect to the characteristic vertical scale of water vapor Heff and the relative height difference in the grid nodes in the ERA-5. The calculated values of PWV are highly correlated with the Global Navigation Satellite System-derived PWV, with Pearson coefficients greater than 0.9. Using the refined estimations, we determined the median values of atmospheric opacities corresponding to new prospective sites (Khulugaisha Peak and Tashanta) as well as the Special Astrophysical Observatory (the key astronomical observatory in Russia). Together with Ali in China, Khulugaisha Peak and Tashanta are considered by us as potential sites for the placement of a millimeter/submillimeter telescope within the framework of the project of the Eurasian Submillimeter Telescopes. The results obtained in this paper suggest promising atmospheric conditions for astronomic observations, at least in the millimeter range. In particular, we believe that this study will be a basis for the Eurasian Submillimeter Telescopes (ESMT) project, within the framework of which it is assumed to create a number of ground-based millimeter/submillimeter telescopes.
地基望远镜领域中使用的现代传感技术仍然存在一些挑战。首先，这些挑战与新一代天文观测仪器的开发以及地球大气对电磁频谱各波段辐射的影响有关。在光学和毫米波波段，大气往往是决定仪器技术特性的主要因素。特别是对于毫米波/亚毫米波望远镜，水汽是决定大气透明度的主要气体。正确评估水汽可以估算大气的光学透明度，并在此基础上评估毫米波/亚毫米波望远镜的能力及其在甚长基线干涉测量模式下使用的局限性。许多研究旨在有效地表征水汽含量和动态，以便为地基毫米波和亚毫米波望远镜应用进行选址测试。在本文中，我们研究了一个现代文献中鲜有涉及的相当大的区域内的水汽含量。基于作为选址测试导向工具的ERA-5再分析数据，我们获得了一个大区域（北纬20°至70°，东经35°至120°）内可降水水汽（PWV）的空间分布。这些PWV分布针对ERA-5中水汽的特征垂直尺度Heff和网格节点中的相对高度差进行了校正。计算得到的PWV值与全球导航卫星系统得出的PWV高度相关，皮尔逊系数大于0.9。利用这些精确估计值，我们确定了对应于新的潜在选址（胡卢盖沙峰和塔山塔）以及特殊天体物理天文台（俄罗斯的关键天文台）的大气透明度中值。与中国的阿里一起，我们将胡卢盖沙峰和塔山塔视为在欧亚亚毫米波望远镜项目框架内放置毫米波/亚毫米波望远镜的潜在选址。本文获得的结果表明，至少在毫米波波段，有望具备适合天文观测的大气条件。特别是，我们认为这项研究将成为欧亚亚毫米波望远镜（ESMT）项目的基础，在该项目框架内预计将建造一些地基毫米波/亚毫米波望远镜。
