Principal Investigator: Maurice Wilson

Institution name: National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) High Altitude Observatory

Scientific Objetives

COSMO will be an observatory housing the Large Coronagraph, which will have a 1.5-meter aperture in order to study the magnetic field behavior of the Sun’s corona.  An international site survey has commenced to determine which regions around the world provide favorable weather conditions and climate for such an observatory to gather precise data when observing the Sun.  The primary conditions of interest for the current phase of the site survey include the local wind dynamics and local aerosol abundance.   Amongst many meteorological parameters, the local wind velocity and aerosol optical depth will be used to compare the Sun-observing conditions between various sites.

Most of the analysis has already been completed.  There a total of six sites and the meteorological parameters for five of the sites has already been determined.  The last site to consider for the analysis is Izaña, Spain.  The same Langley Method that has been used for the data collected at the other five sites will be used for Izana once access to the data is given.  Since the algorithm for determining aerosol optical depth as a function of wavelength with direct-sun radiometer measurements has already been proven to work for the other 5 sites, this analysis is certain to be completed by the nominal deadline as long as there are no delays in the accessing of the Izaña data. No experimental set-up nor equipment need be brought to Izaña currently in this phase of the site survey analysis.