Density Profile Characterization And Modeling At Paranal And Armazones 2K Sites

\nThe Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) in the southern hemisphere will be installed at Armazones 2k site in northern Chile. Scarce atmospheric observations are available in the region, particularly radiosonde data. This study analyzes radiosondes launched at Paranal observatory, located at about 21 km from the CTA site, from 24 October and 4 November 2011, to understand the behavior of density in the atmosphere near the CTA site. High-resolution numerical simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are validated with Paranal radiosondes to quantify its ability to represent the atmospheric conditions in the region. In addition, the seasonal and diurnal evolution of atmospheric density at the CTA site were studied during 2011 using the high-resolution weather forecasts from the WRF model.\n