Usage of estimateOpacity

Return to directory of Todd's CASA extensions

Casa contains Juan Pardo's atmospheric model. This function is a convenient wrapper for it if you just want to compute the opacity at a single frequency. To try to compute the opacity for your specific observations, see listconditions. You can also supply a Trx (e.g. from a SYSCAL table) and it will estimate the system temperature at any requested elevation. It uses the following formula: Tsys = (Trx + etaTelescope*T*(1-etaSky) + T*(1-etaTelescope)) / (etaTelescope*etaSky) where etaSky is the transmission through the atmosphere at the requested elevation and etaTelescope is the telescope efficiency.

CASA <6>: au.estimateOpacity(help=True)
Usage: estimateOpacity(pwvmean=1, reffreq=230, conditions=None, verbose=True,
       elevation=90, altitude=5059., P=563., H=20., T=273., Trx=0,
       etaTelescope=0.75, telescope=None, help=False)
 units: pwv(mm), reffreq(GHz), elevation(deg), altitude(m), pressure(mb), temp(K)
 The default values are nominal conditions at ALMA.  To change them, you may
 either specify the weather and location variables, or use the shortcuts:
  telescope: 'ALMA', 'SMA', 'EVLA'
  conditions: a dictionary containing:
              pressure,solarangle,temperature,humidity,elevation

CASA <3>: au.estimateOpacity(1,690)
Using pressure=563.0mb, temperature=273.0K and humidity=20% at ALMA.
690.0 GHz tau at zenith = 1.207 (dry=0.075, wet=1.133), trans=29.9%, Tsky=190.98
  Out[3]: [1.2073223221182718, 1.2073223221182718]

CASA <4>: au.estimateOpacity(1,690,telescope='SMA',elevation=45)
Using pressure=629.5mb, temperature=273.0K and humidity=20% at SMA.
690.0 GHz tau at zenith = 1.356 (dry=0.091, wet=1.265), trans=25.8%, Tsky=201.39
690.0 GHz tau toward source (elevation=45.0) = 1.917, trans=14.7%, Tsky=231.44
  Out[4]: [1.3557141565856619, 1.9172693469446449]

CASA <5>: au.estimateOpacity(10,22.235,telescope='VLA',T=290)
Using pressure=785.0mb, temperature=290.0K and humidity=20% at VLA.
22.2 GHz tau at zenith = 0.076 (dry=0.009, wet=0.066), trans=92.7%, Tsky=22.84
  Out[5]: [0.075975022445379875, 0.075975022445379875]

CASA <6>: au.estimateOpacity(pwvmean=.42,reffreq=690,elevation=56,Trx=80)
Using pressure=563.0mb, temperature=273.0K, humidity=20%, etaTelescope=0.75 at ALMA.
690.0 GHz tau at zenith= 0.550 (dry=0.075,wet=0.476), trans=57.7%, Tsky=120.52
690.0 GHz tau toward source (elevation=56.0) = 0.664, trans=51.5%, Tsky=138.14
Expected Tsys at zenith = 543.1K,   toward source = 641.2K


-- Main.ToddHunter - 2012-02-17
Topic revision: r3 - 2012-05-23, ToddHunter
This site is powered by FoswikiCopyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding NRAO Public Wiki? Send feedback