Assessments of Ali, Dome A, and Summit Camp for Mm-wave Observations Using MERRA-2 Reanalysis

Understand

The latest MERRA-2 reanalysis of the modern satellite measurements provides unprecedented uniformity and fidelity for the atmospheric data.

• In this paper, these data are used to evaluate five sites for millimeter-wave (mm-wave) observations.
• These include two established sites (South Pole and Chajnantor, Atacama), and three new sites (Ali, Tibet; Dome A, Antarctica; and Summit Camp, Greenland).
• Atmospheric properties including precipitable water vapor (PWV), sky brightness temperature fluctuations, ice and liquid water paths are derived and compared.