Long-term changes of sodium column abundance at 24.6°S above the Atacama Desert in Chile

Aims. The utilisation of artificial laser guide star (LGS) obviates the necessity for a prominent natural guide star (NGS) within adaptive optics (AO) systems. High-power lasers are fundamental components of most AO systems today. The generation of an LGS relies on the excitation of sodium (denoted by its symbol Na) atoms situated in the upper atmosphere. Therefore, the sodium vertical column density (denoted as CNa) is a crucial parameter. Beyond ensuring the optimal and stable performance of an AO system, knowledge of the return flux from an LGS is imperative during the design phase, aiding in the accurate specification of both the LGS and the AO system. The availability of sodium in the upper atmosphere has been the focal point of diverse studies, exhibiting a pronounced dependence on the specific observatory site. Furthermore, it is well established that CNa varies across multiple timescales, including hours, nights, months, seasons, and even several years. As many of the world’s largest telescopes are located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, our objective is to provide CNa statistics pertinent to this specific region.

Methods. We used telemetry data from the AO systems operational at the Paranal Observatory (24.6°S, 70.4°W): Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive Corrector for Spectroscopic Imaging (GALACSI) and Ground layer Adaptive Optics system Assisted by Lasers (GRAAL). We combined these data with measurements from two space instruments: SCanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) and Optical Spectrograph and Infrared Imaging System (OSIRIS), as well as with simulated data from the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). We carefully analysed and compared these datasets to develop a statistical model for the temporal variations of CNa.

Results. We validated the use of the AO telemetry data from Paranal systems to retrieve the CNa. The near-continuous measurements encompassing the period from mid-2017 to the end of 2023 facilitated the determination of monthly and yearly abundance and variability of Na in the mesopause region. Throughout the complete years of measurement, the annual and semi-annual variations exhibit consistent characteristics that align with previously documented findings in atmospheric studies. Through meticulous comparison and the fitting of various long-term datasets, we formulated a model depicting the evolution of CNa over time. The validity of our data processing and model is scrutinised, and the results obtained for the Paranal latitude exhibit noteworthy concordance with the findings of other studies.