Comparing horizontal path C2n measurements over 0.6 km in the tropical littoral environment and in the desert

We have measured the optical turbulence structure parameter, C 2 n , in two extremely different locations: the first being the littoral region on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. The second location is over the dry desert in central New Mexico. In both cases, the horizontal beam paths are approximately 0.6 km long, within 2 meters of the local surface (Puerto Rico) and varying between 2 to 100 meters (New Mexico). We present our findings from the two datasets.