Astroclimatic Characterization of Vallecitos: A Candidate Site for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at San Pedro Mártir

• Published in: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Vol. 128; no. 961; pp. 35004 - 35016
• Main Authors: Tovmassian, Gagik, Hernandez, Mercedes-Stephania, Ochoa, Jose Luis, Ernenwein, Jean-Pierre, Mandat, Dusan, Pech, Miroslav, Frayn, Ilse Plauchu, Colorado, Enrique, Murillo, Jose Manuel, Ceseña, Urania, Garcia, Benjamin, H. Lee, William, Bulik, Tomasz, Garczarczyk, Markus, Fruck, Christian, Costantini, Heide, Cieslar, Marek, Aune, Taylor, Vincent, Stephane, Carr, John, Serre, Natalia, Janecek, Petr, Haefner, Dennis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Astronomical Society of the Pacific 01.03.2016; Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics; site testing; ISE, Mexico; INE, USA, California, San Pedro
• ISSN: 0004-6280; 1538-3873
• DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/128/961/035004

We conducted an 18 month long study of the weather conditions of the Vallecitos, a proposed site in México to harbor the northern array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). It is located in Sierra de San Pedro Mártir (SPM) a few kilometers away from Observatorio Astronómico Nacional. The study is based on data collected by the ATMOSCOPE, a multi-sensor instrument measuring the weather and sky conditions, which was commissioned and built by the CTA Consortium. Additionally, we compare the weather conditions of the optical observatory at SPM to the Vallecitos regarding temperature, humidity, and wind distributions. It appears that the excellent conditions at the optical observatory benefit from the presence of microclimate established in the Vallecitos.