Combining Cn2 models to simulate and forecast the optical turbulence in Armazones and Paranal

To improve the modeling of seeing and its forecast over Armazones and Paranal, we applied two different C²_n methods to estimate the vertical refractive index structure. One method, using temperature, pressure and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), simulates the planetary boundary layer (PBL) C²_n . The second method simulates in the free atmosphere, using temperature, pressure and vertical wind shear. The combination of both methods delivers the whole vertical structure of the C²_n from ground level up to the stratosphere, and consequently we can derive the astronomical seeing. These atmospheric variables were calculated using WRF, configured in high temporal and spatial resolution. Our results show that the combination of these two methods gives improved results than when are used separately. We compared our simulations with measured data from MASS and DIMM instruments located at both sites.