Mauna Kea summit extinction values (Dec 1980 through May 1996)
Given below are the mean extinction values, the mean error of the mean,
the median values, and the number of measurements. When in doubt, use
the median values.
For more information see Krisciunas et al., PASP 99, 887, 1987.
Data for broad band filters:
Wavel/Filter mean median n
(mag/air mass) (mag/air mass)
(0.36) U 0.358 0.358 1
(0.44) B 0.198 +/- 0.008 0.194 45
(0.55) V 0.119 0.005 0.111 52
(1.25) J 0.114 0.007 0.102 111
(1.65) H 0.068 0.006 0.059 110
(2.2) K 0.096 0.005 0.088 156
(3.4) L 0.203 0.030 0.150 31
(3.8) L' 0.112 0.009 0.093 96
(4.8) M 0.244 0.016 0.220 60
(10) N 0.184 0.017 0.151 50
(20) Q 0.503 0.030 0.451 43
(32) Z 1.398 0.313 1.14 6
Data for narrow band filters:
nbM 0.194 +/- 0.025 0.193 11 *
7.8 0.413 0.040 0.458 17
8.7 0.144 0.020 0.135 27
9.6 0.185 0.026 0.189 17
10.3 0.107 0.026 0.092 20
11.6 0.101 0.026 0.088 20
12.5 0.149 0.038 0.125 22
______________
* Narrow-band M filter at UKIRT in UKT9, range 4.59 to 4.75 microns.
From the CFHT Bulletin, number 19, p. 16 (1988) we obtain the
following mean optical/near-IR extinction values:
wavelength (A) mag/airmass
3000 4.90
3100 1.37
3200 0.82
3300 0.57
3400 0.51
3500 0.42
3600 0.37
3700 0.33
3800 0.30
3900 0.27
4000 0.25
4250 0.21
4500 0.17
4750 0.14
5000 0.13
5250 0.12
5500 0.12
5750 0.12
6000 0.11
6500 0.11
7000 0.10
8000 0.07
9000 0.05
10000 0.04
12000 0.03
Frankly, the 1.2 micron extinction value here seems much too low.
And I would think that at 1.0 microns we are looking at the edge
of the J-band, which is affected by water vapor absorption.
A graph from the CFHT observer's manual may be obtained by clicking
here.
One might also calculate the expected extinction from the
treatment laid out by Hayes and Latham (1975), Astrophysical
Journal , 197 , 593, with the appropriate
height inserted. Hayes and Latham give 1.5 km as the aerosol
scale height. I found it to be 1.43 +/- 0.43 km from actual
measurements at Mauna Kea. (See Krisciunas, 1990, Publ.
Astr. Soc. Pacific , 102 , pp. 1052-1063,
on p. 1054.)