A quasi-continuous record of atmospheric opacity at lambda = 1.1 mm over 34 days at Mauna Kea Observatory

A quasi-continuous record of atmospheric attenuation is obtained. The data were gathered during a 24-day period in September and October 1982 and a 10-day period in December of that year. The opacity is arrived at by measuring the thermal emission of the atmosphere over a bandwidth of approximately 300 MHz. Using an experimental relationship established by Zammit and Ade (1981), opacity measurements at 1.1 mm are converted to the precipitable water vapor column overhead. With the precipitable water vapor, estimates of opacity due to water vapor can be made for other mm and FIR wavelengths. These estimates require model absorption curves for the atmosphere.