Evaluation of sonic anemometers as highly sensitive optical turbulence measuring devices for the Thirty Meter Telescope site testing campaign

Skidmore, Warren; Travouillon, Tony; Riddle, Reed

Cultural advice

The Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates and pays our respects to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations Australians on whose traditional lands we meet and work, and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that ANU Library collections may include images, names, voices, and other representations of deceased persons.

Material in the collection may contain terms, language or views that reflect the period in which the item was created and may be considered inappropriate today.

Evaluation of sonic anemometers as highly sensitive optical turbulence measuring devices for the Thirty Meter Telescope site testing campaign

Date

2006

Authors

Skidmore, Warren

Travouillon, Tony

Riddle, Reed

Abstract

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) site testing programme is evaluating the use of sonic anemometers as a means of measuring the optical turbulence at the level of its MASS/DIMM telescopes (7m). Tests were performed where sonic anemometers were directly compared against a differenced fine wire thermocouple system. We also show here that fine wire thermocouples produce turbulence measurements comparable to those from a traditional microthermal probe system.