1. Dome C, Antarctica
2012

2. Example of Dome C as seen from DNB

3. June 2012
Night

4. Quality Control Check:
The two granules for 6/27 appear to be the most ‘off’ from the rest of the data.

5. Granule t1356
Reflectance: 90.94
Lunar Zenith angle: °
Lunar Phase angle: °
Both Zenith and Phase angles are in the high range.
Close up of granule (lower right) visually suggest clouds in the area, but actual site looks fairly clear.
The close sector over Dome C (left) does show one pixel nearby that is lighter than the surrounding. Possible small cloud?
This granule has a section where the moon is below the horizon. Possible glint?

6. Granule t1536
Reflectance: 63.42
Lunar Zenith angle: 80.72°
Lunar Phase angle: °
Like previous, both Zenith and Phase angles are in the high range.
Close up of granule (lower right) visually suggest clouds in the area, but actual site looks fairly clear.
The close sector over Dome C (left) is noticeably darker than others. This could very well be a factor of it’s Lunar Zenith angle, which is nearly 5° larger than previous.
This granule also has a section where the moon is below the horizon. Possible effect?

7. Unadjusted
Adjusted
Just for a check, I ran the June data using the calibration curves developed from the Uyuni data. Reflectance values for both 6/27 granules dropped significantly compared to the others.

8. Quality Control Summary
Considering what Sirish said about solar zenith angles above 75°, perhaps we are seeing the same with lunar zenith angles.
Another point to consider is that the Uyuni data never had waxing points for moon phase angles above 60°. This was due for the first few days of the period not having the moon above the horizon. So perhaps the calibration for the waxing side is incomplete.
Another interesting note: the opposite is true for the Dome C set. The moon is below the horizon for the last part (waning) side of the half moon to half moon period.

9. Reflectance vs. Moon Phase Angle.
Uncorrected reflectance showing curves for waxing and waning.
Pixels designated as cloud from Cloud Product have been removed.
About two orbits per day have moon above horizon.
Moon below horizon in last four days of half moon to half moon cycle

10. Unadjusted
Adjusted
Small shift in Waning curve that looks like it is closer to a straight line
Adjusted Waxing data is more a curve and not in line
More evidence that the waxing calibration is incomplete?
<10° points drop quite a bit with calibration – too low?

11. Unadjusted Adjusted Points are more separated after adjustment
Again, drop in <10° points

12. May 2012
Night

13. Quality Control Check:
While most of the data seems fairly close together, the two granules for day 6/4 may be outliers.
Also there has been no cloud removal except by visual inspection – no cloud products available

14. Granule t1427
Reflectance: 105.1
Lunar Zenith angle: 55.37°
Lunar Phase angle: 2.67 °
Lunar Phase is close to full moon
Close up of granule (lower right) does show texture that could be cloud, but it is hard to see if this pattern extends over site.
The slice to the left looks clear.
High value could be due to high Moon phase.

15. Granule t1608
Reflectance: 95.77
Lunar Zenith angle: 54.22°
Lunar Phase angle: 3.48°
Lunar Phase is again low, or close to full moon.
Close up of granule (lower right) shows a few hints of cloud, but not over site.
The slice to the left also looks clear.
There does seem to be some odd straight line signal at the end of the granule, but not over site.

16. Unadjusted
Adjusted
Small shifts in both Waxing and Waning curves, showing a little more separation.
Again, drop in <10° points, but it seems to help with this view.

17. Reflectance vs. Moon Phase Angle.
Uncorrected reflectance showing curves for waxing and waning.
One point (phase angle 55°; reflectance 73) is a bit low

18. Dome C is right on the edge of the granule
Dome C is right on the edge of the granule. It is reasonable to remove it from the data set.

19. Unadjusted Adjusted Small shift in both Waxing and Waning curves
Not sure if adjustment helps or hurts – though most of points in this set is below 70° Phase Angle (most problem points from June was above 70° )
Again, drop in <10° points

20. Unadjusted Adjusted Small shift in both Waxing and Waning curves
Not sure if adjustment helps or hurts – though most of points in this set is below 70 ° Phase Angle
Again, drop in <10° points

21. July 2012
Night

22. Quality Control Check:
The data seems to line up fairly well.
Data points designated as cloud from the VIIRS cloud product were taken out.

23. Unadjusted Adjusted Small shifts in both Waxing and Waning curves.
Again, drop in <10° points, but it seems to help with this view.

24. Unadjusted Adjusted Small shift in both Waxing and Waning curves
Does seem to be slight curve in Waxing data, especially above 70°
Again, drop in <10° points

25. Unadjusted Adjusted Small shift in both Waxing and Waning curves
Not sure if adjustment helps or hurts – adjusted looks like a bird…
Again, drop in <10° points