Astroclimatic Characterization of Vallecitos: A candidate site for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at San Pedro Mártir

• 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, Cesena, Urania, Garcia, Benjamin, Lee, William H., Bulik, Tomasz, Garczarczyk, Markus, Fruck, Christian, Costantini, Heide, Cieslar, Marek, Aune, Taylor, Vincent, Stephane, Carr, John, Serre, Natalia, Janecek, Petr, Haefner, Dennis
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg 2016
• Subjects: Cherenkov Telescope Array; observatory; optical; site: proposed; temperature
• ISSN: 1538-3873; 0004-6272; 0004-6280
• DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2017-00311

We conducted an 18 month long study of the weather conditions of the Vallecitos, a proposed site in Mexico to harbor the northern array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). It is located in Sierra de San Pedro Martir (SPM) a few kilometers away from Observatorio Astron\'omico 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.