South African night sky brightness during high aerosol epochs

TL;DR

This study analyzes how atmospheric aerosols, especially after volcanic eruptions like Mount Pinatubo, influence night sky brightness in South Africa, with implications for astronomical observations and site monitoring.

Contribution

It provides a detailed characterization of sky brightness variations due to aerosols in South Africa, using archival data and exploring post-volcanic and biomass burning effects.

Findings

Aerosol loading significantly increases sky brightness.

Post-Pinatubo periods show elevated sky brightness levels.

Light scattering models are validated against observed data.

Abstract

Sky conditions in the remote, dry north-western interior of South Africa are now the subject of considerable interest in view of the imminent construction of numerous solar power plants in this area. Furthermore, the part of this region in which the core of the SKA is to be located (which includes SALT) has been declared an Astronomical Advantage Zone, for which sky brightness monitoring will now be mandatory. In this project we seek to characterise the sky brightness profile under a variety of atmospheric conditions. Key factors are of course the lunar phase and altitude, but in addition the sky brightness is also significantly affected by the atmospheric aerosol loading, as that influences light beam scattering. In this paper we chose to investigate the sky characteristics soon after the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption in 1991, which resulted in huge ash masses reaching the stratosphere (where they affected solar irradiance for several years). We re-reduced photometric sky measurements from the South African Astronomical Observatory archives (and originally obtained by us) in different wavelengths and in a variety of directions. We use this data explore relationships between the aerosol loading and the sky brightness in a range of conditions, including several post-Pinatubo phases and during the passage of biomass burning induced haze and dust clouds. We use this data to explore the impact of our findings on the applicability of light scattering models and light scatterer properties.