Data

An Australian autonomous observatory, PLATO at Dome A

Australian Antarctic Division

Burton, M. ; BURTON, MICHAEL

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ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2FANDS&rft_id=info:doi10.4225/15/514A619A36F5C&rft.title=An Australian autonomous observatory, PLATO at Dome A&rft.identifier=10.4225/15/514A619A36F5C&rft.publisher=Australian Antarctic Data Centre&rft.description=Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 3137See the link below for public details on this project.Robotic Science from the High PlateauAustralia's astronomers are exceptionally well placed to lead and to partner major international programs in Antarctic astronomy. These bring Australian industry increased access to cutting edge technology, and create business opportunities in the infrastructure and support of Antarctic research. This project aims to capture the lead for Australia in Antarctic astronomy, allowing us to fully capture the benefits of future international investment. Australia's participation in these programs also ensures continued technology exchange, and builds our knowledge base in robotics, harsh-environment engineering and computational fluid dynamics, while creating important new astronomical opportunities. It serves to demonstrate robotic science from the high plateau.Data from the first year of the project is available for download from the provided URL.Project objectives:Within the next decade, the first major optical/infrared telescopes will be built on the Antarctic Plateau, taking advantage of the remarkable conditions known to exist at established sites such as Dome C. In January 2008 our autonomous observatory, PLATO, was deployed by a Chinese team to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic Plateau and potentially the best observing site on earth. With Dome A now accessible for the first time, we will lead a detailed multi-year study to compare Dome A and Dome C, creating an improved understanding of the Antarctic atmosphere and providing the essential data needed by designers of Antarctic telescopes, interferometers and adaptive optics systems.This project makes use of robotic technologies in order to gather the data needed for its science. It is a prime example of the way to conduct science from remote locations, such as the Antarctic plateau, where human presence is limited. It can serve as a model for the way other such investigations could be carried out in the future - robotic science from the high plateau. Public summary of the season progress:Dome A is the highest point on the Antarctic plateau, and lies within the Australian Antarctic Territory. It is likely the coldest and driest location on the surface of the Earth, and possibly the finest site to make sensitive observations of the faint light from the distant Cosmos. A Chinese scientific station is now under construction there, Kunlun Station. An Australian autonomous observatory, PLATO (PLATeau Observatory), built at the University of New South Wales, was installed at Dome A in 2008. It has now completed two seasons of operations, completely unattended following the departure of the Chinese commissioning expedition. A suite of instruments operated by PLATO are now returning data on the atmospheric conditions at Dome A, in particular relating to the sensitivity that future telescopes could have. These are remarkable achievements and demonstrate Australian leadership and ingenuity in the development of the Antarctic plateau for frontier scientific investigations.Progress Code: completedStatement: Values provided in temporal coverage are approximate only. Field work: A Chinese servicing mission to Dome A took place in January 2009. The Chinese icebreaker, Xuelong, received new instrumentation and supplies at Fremantle, and proceeded to the Chinese Antarctic coastal station of Zhongshan. A 2 week tractor traverse, carrying 500 tonnes of equipment and supplies, then took place to Dome A. The Chinese team spent two weeks at Dome A, working on construction of the new Kunlun station, as well as re-furbishing the PLATO laboratory. The generators were refuelled, data retrieved from the 2008 season, and the four instruments (CSTAR - a wide-field telescope, Pre-HEAT - a sub-mm sky monitor, SNODAR - an acoustic radar, GATTINI - optical sky brightness monitors) serviced. The team then returned, and PLATO has operated, completely autonomously, for the rest of the year.&rft.creator=Burton, M. &rft.creator=BURTON, MICHAEL &rft.date=2010&rft.coverage=westlimit=77.0; southlimit=-81.0; eastlimit=77.0; northlimit=-81.0&rft.coverage=westlimit=77.0; southlimit=-81.0; eastlimit=77.0; northlimit=-81.0&rft_rights=Data from the first year of the project are available for download from the provided URL. Copies of two of the publications are available for download only to AAD staff from the provided URL.&rft_rights=Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode&rft_rights=This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_3137_SUMMIT_DOMEA_PLATO when using these data.&rft_rights=This metadata record is publicly available.&rft_subject=climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere&rft_subject=environment&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > AIR QUALITY > EMISSIONS&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > AIR QUALITY > VISIBILITY&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR > WATER VAPOR INDICATORS > WATER VAPOR&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > ABSORPTION&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > ATMOSPHERIC EMITTED RADIATION&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > EMISSIVITY&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS&rft_subject=EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > TRANSMITTANCE&rft_subject=PLATO&rft_subject=DOME A&rft_subject=ASTRONOMY&rft_subject=BOUNDARY LAYER&rft_subject=SKY TEMPERATURE&rft_subject=SUB-MILLIMETRE OPACITY&rft_subject=ACOUSTIC RADAR&rft_subject=Telescopes&rft_subject=FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS&rft_subject=OBSERVATORIES&rft_subject=AMD/AU&rft_subject=CEOS&rft_subject=AMD&rft_subject=CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA > Dome A&rft_subject=GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR&rft.type=dataset&rft.language=English Access the data

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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Data from the first year of the project are available for download from the provided URL. Copies of two of the publications are available for download only to AAD staff from the provided URL.

This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_3137_SUMMIT_DOMEA_PLATO when using these data.

This metadata record is publicly available.

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Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 3137
See the link below for public details on this project.

Robotic Science from the High Plateau

Australia's astronomers are exceptionally well placed to lead and to partner major international programs in Antarctic astronomy. These bring Australian industry increased access to cutting edge technology, and create business opportunities in the infrastructure and support of Antarctic research. This project aims to capture the lead for Australia in Antarctic astronomy, allowing us to fully capture the benefits of future international investment. Australia's participation in these programs also ensures continued technology exchange, and builds our knowledge base in robotics, harsh-environment engineering and computational fluid dynamics, while creating important new astronomical opportunities. It serves to demonstrate robotic science from the high plateau.

Data from the first year of the project is available for download from the provided URL.

Project objectives:
Within the next decade, the first major optical/infrared telescopes will be built on the Antarctic Plateau, taking advantage of the remarkable conditions known to exist at established sites such as Dome C. In January 2008 our autonomous observatory, PLATO, was deployed by a Chinese team to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic Plateau and potentially the best observing site on earth. With Dome A now accessible for the first time, we will lead a detailed multi-year study to compare Dome A and Dome C, creating an improved understanding of the Antarctic atmosphere and providing the essential data needed by designers of Antarctic telescopes, interferometers and adaptive optics systems.

This project makes use of robotic technologies in order to gather the data needed for its science. It is a prime example of the way to conduct science from remote locations, such as the Antarctic plateau, where human presence is limited. It can serve as a model for the way other such investigations could be carried out in the future - robotic science from the high plateau.

Public summary of the season progress:
Dome A is the highest point on the Antarctic plateau, and lies within the Australian Antarctic Territory. It is likely the coldest and driest location on the surface of the Earth, and possibly the finest site to make sensitive observations of the faint light from the distant Cosmos. A Chinese scientific station is now under construction there, Kunlun Station. An Australian autonomous observatory, PLATO (PLATeau Observatory), built at the University of New South Wales, was installed at Dome A in 2008. It has now completed two seasons of operations, completely unattended following the departure of the Chinese commissioning expedition. A suite of instruments operated by PLATO are now returning data on the atmospheric conditions at Dome A, in particular relating to the sensitivity that future telescopes could have. These are remarkable achievements and demonstrate Australian leadership and ingenuity in the development of the Antarctic plateau for frontier scientific investigations.

Lineage

Progress Code: completed

Statement: Values provided in temporal coverage are approximate only. Field work: A Chinese servicing mission to Dome A took place in January 2009. The Chinese icebreaker, Xuelong, received new instrumentation and supplies at Fremantle, and proceeded to the Chinese Antarctic coastal station of Zhongshan. A 2 week tractor traverse, carrying 500 tonnes of equipment and supplies, then took place to Dome A. The Chinese team spent two weeks at Dome A, working on construction of the new Kunlun station, as well as re-furbishing the PLATO laboratory. The generators were refuelled, data retrieved from the 2008 season, and the four instruments (CSTAR - a wide-field telescope, Pre-HEAT - a sub-mm sky monitor, SNODAR - an acoustic radar, GATTINI - optical sky brightness monitors) serviced. The team then returned, and PLATO has operated, completely autonomously, for the rest of the year.

Data time period: 2008-01-27 to 2010-12-31

This dataset is part of a larger collection

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text: westlimit=77.0; southlimit=-81.0; eastlimit=77.0; northlimit=-81.0

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Other Information

Website providing further details about the PLATO project at Dome A (VIEW RELATED INFORMATION)

url : http://mcba11.phys.unsw.edu.au/~plato/plato.html External Link

Website providing further details about the PLATO SNODAR project at Dome A (VIEW RELATED INFORMATION)

url : http://mcba11.phys.unsw.edu.au/~plato/snodar.html External Link

Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset (VIEW RELATED INFORMATION)

url : http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_3137_SUMMIT_DOMEA_PLATO External Link

Identifiers

DOI : 10.4225/15/514A619A36F5C
global : ASAC_3137_SUMMIT_DOMEA_PLATO