Astroclimate Studies in the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The results of measurements of astroclimate characteristics in the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO, North Caucasus) in 2012 and 2016 are presented. The experimental results are obtained from long-term observation series of the day and night astroclimate in the SAO. The presence of non-Kolmogorov coherent turbulence was detected over the SAO site, in which the quality of telescope images improved. The effect of the underlying surface type and wind direction on the conditions for coherent turbulence origination is explained by the mountainous terrain and nonuniform heating of the underlying surface. The airflow velocity distribution inside the dome room of the Big Telescope Alt-azimuth (BTA) was experimentally studied. The air-mass trajectories inside the BTA dome room were numerically simulated to analyze the effect of the temperature regime and construction geometry. The solutions of the boundary problem confirm the existence of an experimentally detected vortex structure with a vertical rotation axis. The causes for its generation are the temperature gradients of the dome surfaces.