Surface characterisation of the Dome Concordia area (Antarctica) as a potential satellite calibration site, using Spot 4/Vegetation instrument

A good calibration of satellite sensors is necessary to derive reliable quantitative measurements of the surface parameters or to compare data obtained from different sensors. In this study, the snow surface of the high plateau of the East Antarctic ice sheet, particularly the Dome C area (75°S, 123°E), is used first to test the quality of this site as a ground calibration target and then to determine the inter-annual drift in the sensitivity of the VEGETATION sensor, onboard the SPOT4 satellite. Dome C area has many good calibration site characteristics: The site is very flat and extremely homogeneous (only snow), there is little wind and a very small snow accumulation rate and therefore a small temporal variability, the elevation is 3200 m and the atmosphere is very clear most of the time. Finally, due to its location, it is frequently within view of many satellites. VEGETATION visible blue channel data (0.43-0.47 μm) of a 716×716 km² area centred on the French-Italian Dome Concordia station, during the 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2001-2001, and 2001-2002 austral summers were cloud masked and atmospherically corrected. The snow surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function is very high with little spatial and seasonal variability, which is a major advantage for sensor calibration. The inter-annual variation is found to be very small, proving that the stability of the site is very good.