Initial results of round-the-clock observations of solar oscillations at the South Pole are briefly summarized by describing the Figures 1 to 4.
For the first time, a round-the-clock observation of solar oscillations has been achieved, using the South Pole as observational site. Located at a barometric altitude higher than 3 km, this site offers several possibilities which are quite unique for solar astronomy.
Round-the-clock observations are possible, providing a very high to resolution in Fourier analysis and permitting the suppression of diurnal (24 hr) harmonics in the measured signal.
When clear, the sky has a transparency of coronal quality, possibly better than anywhere else on our planet.
In Doppler measurements, the large amplitude trend due to the Earth's rotation is suppressed, and this allows the high sensitivity made possible by full-disk Doppler measurements to be exploited to full advantage.
Over 200 hr of good observations were made, mostly during the first week of January 1980, including an almost non-stop run of 120 hr (5 days). At the time of this meeting, only this 120-hr-run has been analyzed, and the results have been published recently in Nature (Grec et aL, 1980). Therefore, we will only briefly comment here on the four figures which describe the main results obtained thus far, taking account of the comments made during the discussion which followed the presentation of these results at the meeting. * Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16-