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The atmospheric properties above three sites (Dome C, Dome A and the South Pole) on the Internal Antarctic Plateau are investigated for astronomical applications using the monthly median of the analyses from ECMWF (the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). Radiosoundings extended on a yearly time-scale at the South Pole and Dome C are used to quantify the reliability of the ECMWF analyses in the free atmosphere as well as in the boundary and surface layers, and to characterize the median wind speed in the first 100 m above the two sites. Thermodynamic instability properties in the free atmosphere above the three sites are quantified with monthly median values of the Richardson number. We find that the probability to trigger thermodynamic instabilities above 100 m is smaller on the Internal Antarctic Plateau than on mid-latitude sites. In spite of the generally more stable atmospheric conditions of the Antarctic sites compared to mid-latitude sites, Dome C shows worse thermodynamic instability conditions than those predicted above the South Pole and Dome A above 100 m. A rank of the Antarctic sites done with respect to the strength of the wind speed in the free atmosphere (ECMWF analyses) as well as the wind shear in the surface layer (radiosoundings) is presented.

A characterization of the optical turbulence vertical distribution (C-N(2) profiles) and all the main integrated astroclimatic parameters derived from the C-N(2) and the wind speed profiles above the site of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) (Mt Graham, Arizona, USA) is presented. The statistics include measurements related to 43 nights done with a Generalized SCIDAR (GS) used in standard configuration with a vertical resolution Delta H similar to 1 km on the whole 20 km and with the new technique (High Vertical Resolution GS) in the first kilometre. The latter achieves a resolution Delta H similar to 20-30 m in this region of the atmosphere. Measurements done in different periods of the year permit us to provide a seasonal variation analysis of the C-N(2) . A discretized distribution of C-N(2) , useful for the Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) simulations, is provided and a specific analysis for the LBT Laser Guide Star system ARGOS (running in GLAO configuration) case is done including the calculation of the 'grey zones' for J, H and K bands. Mt Graham is confirmed to be an excellent site with median values of the seeing without dome contribution epsilon = 0.72 arcsec, the isoplanatic angle theta(0) = 2.5 arcsec and the wavefront coherence time tau(0) = 4.8 ms. We find that the OT vertical distribution decreases in a much sharper way than what has been believed so far in the proximity of the ground above astronomical sites. We find that 50 per cent of the whole turbulence develops in the first 80 +/- 15 m from the ground. We finally prove that the error in the normalization of the scintillation that has been recently demonstrated in the principle of the GS technique affects these measurements by an absolutely negligible quantity (0.04 arcsec).

The characterization of the vertical distribution of wind speed, V (h), is fundamental for anastronomical site for many different reasons: (i) the wind speed shear contributes to triggeroptical turbulence in the whole troposphere; (ii) a few of the astroclimatic parameters, suchas the wavefront coherence time (τ0), depend directly on V (h); (iii) the equivalent velocityV0, controlling the frequency at which the adaptive optics systems have to run in order towork properly, depends on the vertical distribution of the wind speed and optical turbulence.Also, too strong a wind speed near the ground can introduce vibrations in the telescopestructures. The wind speed at a precise pressure (200 hPa) has frequently been used to retrieveindications concerning τ0 and the frequency limits imposed on all instrumentation based onadaptive optics systems. However, more recently, it has been proved that V200 (the wind speedat 200 hPa) alone is not sufficient to provide exhaustive elements concerning this topic, andthus the vertical distribution of the wind speed is necessary. In this paper, we report on acomplete characterization of the vertical distribution of wind speed strength, which has beencarried out above Mt Graham (Arizona, USA), the site of the Large Binocular Telescope.We provide a climatological study extended over 10 yr using the operational analyses fromthe European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). We prove that this isrepresentative of the vertical distribution of the wind speed at Mt Graham, with the exceptionof the boundary layer. We also prove that a mesoscale model can provide reliable nightlyestimates of V (h) above this astronomical site from the ground up to the top of the atmosphere(∼20 km).

The mesoscale model Meso-NH is used to simulate the optical turbulence at Mt Graham (Arizona, USA), site of the Large Binocular Telescope. Measurements of the C2(N) profiles obtained with a generalized scidar from 41 nights are used to calibrate and quantify the model's ability to reconstruct the optical turbulence above the site. The measurements are distributed over different periods of the year, permitting us to study the model's performance in different seasons. A statistical analysis of the simulations is performed for all the most important astroclimatic parameters: the C2(N) profiles, the seeing epsilon, the isoplanatic angle theta(0) and the wavefront coherence time tau(0).

The model shows a general good ability in reconstructing the morphology of the optical turbulence (the shape of the vertical distribution of C2(N)) as well as the strength of all the integrated astroclimatic parameters. The relative error (with respect to measurements) of the averaged seeing on the whole atmosphere for the whole sample of 41 nights is within 9.0 per cent. The median value of the relative error night by night is equal to 18.7 per cent, so that the model still maintains very good performances. Comparable percentages are observed in partial vertical slabs (free atmosphere and boundary layer) and in different seasons (summer and winter). We prove that the most urgent problem, at present, is to increase the ability of the model in reconstructing very weak and very strong turbulence conditions in the high atmosphere. This evidence in the model mainly affects, at present, the model's performances for the isoplanatic angle predictions, for which the median value of the relative error night by night is equal to 35.1 per cent. No major problems are observed for the other astroclimatic parameters. A variant to the standard calibration method is tested but we find that it does not provide better results, confirming the solid base of the standard method.