Abstract
ABSTRACTWe present the results of optical turbulence measurements conducted with a Generalized SCIDAR (scintillation detection and ranging) at Mount Graham during 16 nights in 2004 and 2005 at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope. The principle of the data reduction process is shown, as is the validation of the obtained results. From the measured C2N and wind speed profiles, the astroclimatic parameters, such as seeing ϵ0, isoplanatic angle ϑ0, wave‐front coherence time τ0, and isopistonic angle ϑP, are calculated, and their seasonal variation is studied. With subtraction of the dome seeing, we obtained median values for ϵ0 (0.67″), ϑ0 (2.7″), τ0 (3.6 ms), and ϑP (3.3″) that indicate that the astronomical seeing at Mount Graham is comparable to the best sites in the world. The seasonal variation of the vertical structure of the C2N profiles is studied, and the contribution by the ground‐layer turbulence is analyzed. Furthermore, typical discretized C2N profiles that are suitable for numerical simulations are determined.
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