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Session 62 - Workshop on the Future of Antarctic Astrophysics - II.
Topical, Oral session, Wednesday, June 10
Presidio,
The stability of the atmosphere at the South Pole has been characterized at cm-wavelengths by analyzing data taken during 2 months of the 1996 - 1997 austral summer by the Python telescope. Python is a single dish swept beam Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiment which operates in the frequency range of 37 - 45 GHz. It has two separate pixels on the sky separated in azimuth by 2.8^\circ. The covariance between data from the two pixels is taken for portions of the sweep in which they overlap on the sky, thus separating atmospheric fluctuations from instrument noise. It is found the the South Pole atmosphere is bimodal in nature, with long periods of high stability. The polar site is compared with the Atacama Desert, Chile, using data from the NRAO site testing interferometer and assuming a Kolmogorov model for atmospheric turbulence.
