Abstract
ABSTRACTThe site survey for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) of the National Solar Observatory was initiated in 2002 to find the best location for a 4 m aperture solar telescope. At the end of a 4 year survey, three sites (Big Bear Solar Observatory [BBSO] in California, Mees Solar Observatory [MSO] on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii, and Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos, on La Palma, Spain) were identified as excellent sites for high‐resolution solar observations. MSO was ultimately chosen as the future ATST site. We present a subset of the ATST site survey data, focusing on the local seeing environment at BBSO. In particular, we are interested in the seeing characteristics at a mountain lake‐site observatory, its relation to the local environment and climate, and its implications for the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) currently being built at BBSO. We find a close correlation of very good seeing conditions with the prevailing wind direction and speed. The observatory building, located at the end of a 300 m causeway, is surrounded by the cool waters of Big Bear Lake, which effectively suppress the ground‐layer seeing. Very good seeing conditions from sunrise to sunset are a unique feature of BBSO, which makes it ideally suited for synoptic observations and sustained high‐resolution studies of solar activity and space weather.
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