Dome C

EROS Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE)
Test Sites Catalog
Dome C
Landsat 8 LandsatLook image Path 88 Row 13 Acquired 13 Feb 2020 with ROI indicated
Landsat 8 LandsatLook image Path 88 Row 13 Acquired 13 Feb 2020 with ROI indicated
Google Earth Image centered on Dome C ROI
Google Earth Image centered on Dome C ROI

Description

The Dome C site is a large snow flat surface on the Antarctic Ice Sheet. It is a Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) endorsed calibration site. The site has excellent temporal stability and spatial uniformity [1]. The site has been researched rigorously due to its unique characteristics of high altitude, high reflectance,  high percentage of cloud-free time, atmosphere with very low infrared sky emission, low water vapor content and low aerosol and dust content. 

However, some limitations make early launch calibration / validation activities impossible if a satellite is launched other than the austral summer – the approximately four-month period each year when the area receives sunlight. Other limitations include a large bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) from snow, and accessibility issues for ground truth measurements.

Usability

Dome C is observed more frequently by polar orbiting satellites and can be used to quantify impact on observed bias due to spectral differences of sensors. This site has been used for the characterization and calibration of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite in addition to its on-board calibrators [2].

Location (City, State, Country):
Antarctica
Landsat WRS - 2 Path / Row:
88-89-90/113
Center Latitude (degrees):
S 75.1
Center Longitude (degrees):
E 123.39
CEOS Region of Interest

S 75.1, E 123.39

Search this area in EarthExplorer (Landsat 8-9 Collection 2 Level-1) - date range, datasets, cloud cover and other criteria can be modified once initial results are returned

KML (Need help with this file?)

Altitude above sea level (meters):
3,215
Purpose:
Radiometry
Co-located Instrumented Networks:
AERONET
Status:
Active

References:
  1. Sirish Uprety, Changyong Cao, Suomi NPP VIIRS reflective solar band on-orbit radiometric stability and accuracy assessment using desert and Antarctica Dome C sites, Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 166, 2015, Pages 106-115, ISSN 0034-4257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.05.021. 
  2.  Xiong, X., A. Wu, and B. Wenny. "Using Dome C for MODIS calibration and characterization." In Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XII, vol. 7106, p. 71060V. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2008. 

Note: This information has been compiled by the USGS ECCOE Team, using the best sources currently known. Updates will be made as more information becomes available. Please contact eccoe@usgs.gov with any updates you would like to contribute.