Estimating and measurement of atmospheric optical turbulence according to balloon-borne radiosonde for three sites in China.

ABSTRACT

The distribution of optical turbulence (Cn2 profiles) is the fundamental parameter closely related to the design and application of optoelectronic systems. Since systematic direct measurements of optical turbulence for many climates and seasons are not available, it is useful to estimate Cn2 effectively from the routine meteorological parameters. The Cn2 profiles are estimated by routine meteorological parameters based on the Tatarskii model, and the estimated results are compared with the corresponding radiosonde measurements from the field campaigns at Rongcheng (122.37∘E, 37.15∘N), Taizhou (121.42∘E, 28.62∘N), and Dachaidan (95.35∘E, 37.74∘N) in China. The agreement between the estimation model and the measurement is very close, except for a portion of the atmosphere where it showed considerable difference. Additionally, statistical operators are used to quantify the performance of the estimated model, and the statistical results also show that the estimated and measured Cn2 profiles are consistent well. Furthermore, the integrated parameters (such as the Fried parameter, r0) from radiosonde measurement are 7.92 cm, 5.39 cm, and 3.68 cm at Rongcheng, Taizhou, and Dachaidan, respectively. Therefore, the Cn2 profiles and their characteristics in these typical climate sites provide useful information to assess the effect of laser transmission in the atmosphere, which are usually used in the design of optoelectronic systems and astronomical site testing.