DOMECair: An Airborne Campaign in Antarctica Supporting SMOS Calibration

Niels Skou; Steen Savstrup Kristensen; Sten Schmidl Søbjærg; Jan E. Balling

DOMECair: An Airborne Campaign in Antarctica Supporting SMOS Calibration

Niels Skou, Steen Savstrup Kristensen, Sten Schmidl Søbjærg, Jan E. Balling

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference abstract in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

In search for a stable, well characterized terrestrial calibration target for SMOS, an airborne campaign was carried out in January 2013 over the Dome C area of Antarctica, and the surface was measured by an L-band radiometer. The focus was on homogeneity, and an area of 350 × 350 km around the Concordia station was surveyed using grid, star, and circular flight patterns. Significant and maybe surprising dynamics in brightness temperature is observed. An East-West line through Concordia displays almost 10 K variations, and in specific cases a slope of almost 1 K per km. It is concluded that use of the Dome C area for calibration check of spaceborne radiometers is indeed viable, but with caution - especially when comparing instruments with differing spatial resolutions.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of ESA Living Planet Symposium
Publisher	European Space Agency
Publication date	2013
Publication status	Published - 2013
Event	ESA Living Planet Symposium — 2013 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: 9 Sep 2013 → 13 Sep 2013

Conference

Conference	ESA Living Planet Symposium — 2013
Country	United Kingdom
City	Edinburgh
Period	09/09/2013 → 13/09/2013

Cite this

Skou, N., Kristensen, S. S., Søbjærg, S. S., & Balling, J. E. (2013). DOMECair: An Airborne Campaign in Antarctica Supporting SMOS Calibration. In Proceedings of ESA Living Planet Symposium European Space Agency.

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AU - Skou, Niels

AU - Kristensen, Steen Savstrup

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AU - Balling, Jan E.

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - In search for a stable, well characterized terrestrial calibration target for SMOS, an airborne campaign was carried out in January 2013 over the Dome C area of Antarctica, and the surface was measured by an L-band radiometer. The focus was on homogeneity, and an area of 350 × 350 km around the Concordia station was surveyed using grid, star, and circular flight patterns. Significant and maybe surprising dynamics in brightness temperature is observed. An East-West line through Concordia displays almost 10 K variations, and in specific cases a slope of almost 1 K per km. It is concluded that use of the Dome C area for calibration check of spaceborne radiometers is indeed viable, but with caution - especially when comparing instruments with differing spatial resolutions.

AB - In search for a stable, well characterized terrestrial calibration target for SMOS, an airborne campaign was carried out in January 2013 over the Dome C area of Antarctica, and the surface was measured by an L-band radiometer. The focus was on homogeneity, and an area of 350 × 350 km around the Concordia station was surveyed using grid, star, and circular flight patterns. Significant and maybe surprising dynamics in brightness temperature is observed. An East-West line through Concordia displays almost 10 K variations, and in specific cases a slope of almost 1 K per km. It is concluded that use of the Dome C area for calibration check of spaceborne radiometers is indeed viable, but with caution - especially when comparing instruments with differing spatial resolutions.

M3 - Conference abstract in proceedings

BT - Proceedings of ESA Living Planet Symposium

PB - European Space Agency

ER -

Access to Document

http://www.livingplanet2013.org/abstracts/849817.htm