Site Testing the Highest Point on the Antarctic Plateau: the Gattini-Allsky Camera and the DASLE Turbulence Experiment at Dome A

2007年，题为“美国参与2007年穿越穹顶A -光学天空亮度和地面层湍流剖面”的SGER奖授予加州理工学院，以向澳大利亚PLATO自主模块提供现场测试仪器。PLATO模块随后于2007-08年夏季成功部署在南极高原的最高点Dome A，作为澳大利亚-中国天文学家团队联合开发的科学现场测试计划的一部分。该项目的目标是测量该地点的大气特征和天空的光学亮度，以及制作准确的云量统计数据和确定明亮极光活动的程度。该观测计划在2008年冬季取得了很大的成功，并一直持续到2009年。该提案寻求资金将上述仪器归还给加州理工学院。对学生的持续依赖为这项拟议的研究提供了更广泛的影响，并在其教育使命中坚定地支持这项努力。

The SGER award entitled "United States Participation in the 2007 Traverse to Dome A - Optical Sky Brightness and Ground Layer Turbulence Profiling" was awarded in 2007 to the California Institute of Technology to supply site testing instruments to the Australian PLATO autonomous module. The PLATO module was then successfully deployed at Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic Plateau, in the 2007-08 austral summer as part of a science site-testing program jointly developed by the Australia-Chinese team of astronomers. The objectives of this project was to measure atmospheric characteristics of the site and the optical sky brightness, as well as to produce accurate cloud cover statistics and determine the extent of bright auroral activity. The observational program was mostly successful through austral winter of 2008; it is continued through 2009. This proposal seeks funding to return aforementioned instruments back to Caltech. Continued reliance on students provides a broader impact to this proposed research and firmly grounds this effort in its educational mission.