Long-Term and Seasonal Changes in Atmospheric Transparency and Their Impact on Astronomical Observations on the Shatdzhatmaz Plateau

Abstract

Kislovodsk Mountain Astronomical Station (KMAS) is one of the few observatories in the world where daily observations of the solar corona are carried out. The crown can be observed only in perfectly clear weather at altitudes of more than 2000 m. In this paper, the analysis of the number of days of observations of the corona and their relationship with the data of meteorological parameters in 1957–2022 is carried out. To do this, we used data from the Shatdzhatmaz meteorological station. Both seasonal and long-term variations are present in the data of meteorological parameters, as well as in the variations of corona observations. However, there is no obvious connection with the number of observation days of the corona. The number of days of corona observations can be used to estimate the level of atmospheric aerosols.