^3 ^~ NPS-PH-91-007 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL Monterey, California ATMOSPHERIC OPTICAL TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS TAKEN AT ANDERSON MESA, FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA BETWEEN 10-19 JULY 1990 by G.Tirrell Vaucher, C.A. Vaucher, and D.L. Walters Approved for public release; distribution unlimited Prepared for: Naval Research Laboratory Washington, D.C. 20375 WL/ARCA FEDDOCS Kirtland Air Force Base D 208.14/2 New Mexico 87117 NPS-PH-91-007 . PW-^/_Orn NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL Monterey, California Rear Admiral R.W. West, Jr. H. Shull Superintendent Provost The work reported herein was supported in part by the Naval Research Laboratory Program at the Naval Postgraduate School with funds provided by the Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force Weapons Laboratory, and the Naval Postgraduate School Reproduction of all or part of this report is authorized. This report was prepared by: DUDLEY KNOX U3RARY Unclassified NAVALPOSTGRADUATE SCHOOL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE MONTEREY GA 93943-5101 REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE FormApproved OMBNo 0704-0188 la REPORT SECURITY CLASSIFICATION lb RESTRICTIVE MARKINGS Unclassified 2a SECURITY CLASSIFICATION AUTHORITY 3 DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY OF REPORT Approved for public release; 2b DECLASSIFICATION/DOWNGRADING SCHEDULE Distribution is unlimited. 4 PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER(S) 5 MONITORING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER(S) NPS-PH-91-007 NPS-PH-91-007 6a. NAME OF PERFORMING ORGANIZATION 6b OFFICE SYMBOL 7a. NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School (If applicable) Naval Research Laboratory PH 6c. ADDRESS (Cry, Stare, and ZIPCode) 7b ADDRESS(City. State, and ZIPCode) Monterey, California 93943-5000 Washington, D.C. 20375 8a. NAME OF FUNDING/SPONSORING 8b OFFICE SYMBOL 9 PROCUREMENT INSTRUMENT IDENTIFICATION NUMBER organization Naval Research Lab (If applicable) AF = PO 89-103 WL/ARCA(Air Force) PO 90-PB-101 8c. ADDRESS(City, State, and ZIPCode) 10 SOURCE OF FUNDING NUMBERS Naval Research Lab WL/ARCA PROGRAM PROJECT TASK WORK UNIT Washington, D.C. Kirtland AFB ELEMENT NO NO NO ACCESSION NO New Mexico 87117 20375 11 TITLE (Include Security Classification) ATMOSPHERIC OPTICAL TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS TAKEN AT ANDERSON MESA, FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA BETWEEN 10-19 JULY 1990 12 PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) Gail Tirrell Vaucher, Christopher A. Vaucher, Donald L. Walters 13a TYPE OF REPORT 13b TIME COVERED 14 DATE OF REPORT (Year, Month, Day) 15 PAGE COUNT Technical Report FROM TO 1991 February 15 88 16 supplementary notation The views expressed in this technical report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy -or position of the Dept of Defense or the US government. 17 COSATI codes 18 SUBJECT TERMS (Continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number) FIELD GROUP SUB-GROUP atmospheric optical turbulence, transverse coherence length, isoplanatic angle 19 ABSTRACT (Continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number) From 10 to 19 July 1990, the Naval Postgraduate School Atmospheric Optics Group acquired atmospheric optical turbulence measurements at the 13-inch Lowell Observatory astrographic telescope dome on Anderson Mesa, 16 km southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. This collection of transverse coherence lengths and isoplanatic angles was the last in a three-part Anderson Mesa site-survey measurement set for a large-scale, ground- based, synthetic aperture system (100-300 m baseline stellar interferometer). The intent of this report is to compile, analyze and summarize the acquired optical data, as well as correlate the meteorological and optical conditions present during the data acquisitions. 20 DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY OF ABSTRACT 21 ABSTRACT SECURITY CLASSIFICATION CS UNCLASSIFIED/UNLIMITED SAME AS RPT D DTIC USERS Unclassified 22a NAME OF RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL 22b TELEPHONE (Include AreaCode) c OFFICE iYMB Gail Tirrell Vaucher (408)-646-3207/2267 PH (PH/We) DDForm 1473. JUN 86 Previouseditionsareobsolete SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF - S/N 0102-LF-01A-6603 Unclassified 11 ATMOSPHERIC OPTICAL TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS TAKEN AT ANDERSON MESA, FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA BETWEEN 10-19 JULY 1990 by G.Tirrell Vaucher, C.A. Vaucher, and D.L. Walters Atmospheric Optics Group Department of Physics Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California 93943-5000 iii ABSTRACT From 10 to 19 July 1990, the Naval Postgraduate School Atmospheric Optics Group acquired atmospheric optical turbulence measurements at the 13-inch Lowell Observatory astrographic telescope dome on Anderson Mesa, 16 km southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. This collection of transverse coherence lengths and isoplanatic angles was the last in a three-part Anderson Mesa site-survey measurement set for a large-scale, ground-based, synthetic aperture system (100-300 m baseline stellar interferometer). The intent of this report is to compile, analyze and summarize the acquired optical data, as well as correlate the meteorological and optical conditions present during the data acquisition. IV . .. TABLE OP CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I . 1 EXPERIMENT OVERVIEW I I . 3 A. SITE TOPOGRAPHY 3 B. DATA ACQUISITION 3 1. Optical Instrumentation and Measurements ... 3 2 Synoptic Weather Information 5 III. DATA ANALYSIS 7 A. OPTICAL DATA ANALYSIS 7 1. Transverse Coherence Length Data, ro 7 2. Isoplanatic Angle Data, Qo 11 B METEOROLOGICAL REVIEW 15 1 General Synoptic Weather 15 2. Site Weather Summary 15 IV. DATA SUMMARY 17 A. CONSOLIDATING THE PARAMETERS 17 B. OPTICAL/METEOROLOGICAL DATA CORRELATIONS 18 1. Daily Optical/Meteorological Activity 18 a. 10-12 July 1990 18 b. 13 July 1990 19 c. 14-16 July 1990 19 d. 17 July 1990 20 e. 18 July 1990 20 f. 19 July 1990 21 2. Wind Shear vs. Dominant Optical Conditions. 21 V. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS 23 APPENDIX A. DAILY SYNOPTIC WEATHER SUMMARY 25 APPENDIX B. NWS 850 AND 300 MB SYNOPTIC WEATHER CHARTS. 29 APPENDIX C. PROCESSED OPTICAL DATA (1990 JULY 10-19) .. 47 APPENDIX D. TRANSVERSE COHERENCE LENGTH STATISTICS .... 55 APPENDIX E. ISOPLANATIC ANGLE STATISTICS 63 APPENDIX F. SEPT/NOV 1989, JULY 1990 To AND 9o DISTRIBUTIONS 69 LIST OF REFERENCES 73 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST 75 vi uu y «-EYKNOXUBRAov List of Tables Table 1. TRANSVERSE COHERENCE LENGTH STATISTICS 8 Table 2. ISOPLANATIC ANGLE STATISTICS 12 Table 3. OPTICAL/METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY - ANDERSON MESA, AZ 17 VI 1 viii