Pauto images at Dome C, Antarctica

Pauto is a time-lapse camera installed at Dome C taking hourly pictures of the snow surface, an area of 2 m² in the "clean area". This instrument is composed of a Canon EOS 5D camera (21 Mpixel), two spotlights to provide lightning during the polar winter, an embedded PC that controls data acquisition and transmission, and heating to allow operation in the extreme conditions of Dome C (between -80°C and -20°C). The camera is modified to capture near-infrared (850 nm) light which improves the contrast. It is equipped with a 50 mm-focal lens, looking downward from a height of about 2 m at installation. Pauto was running from November 2009 to February 2010 and from January 2011 to February 2013. It was built by E. Lefebvre and L. Arnaud at LGGE. A new system call StereoPauto (includes 2 cameras) has been running since 2015.

The dataset of full resolution images distributed on this site is the subset used by Champollion et al. 2013 to monitor surface hoar dynamic. One picture was selected every day to keep the solar elevation angle as constant as possible through the summer season, providing relatively constant lightning condition. This dataset can be freely used. Acknowledgement and citation are appreciated. Newer data are available upon request.

Recommended citation

• N. Champollion , G. Picard, L. Arnaud , E. Lefebvre, and M. Fily, Hoar crystal development and disappearance at Dome C, Antarctica: observation by near-infrared photography and passive microwave satellite, The Cryosphere, 7, 1247-1262, doi:10.5194/tc-7-1247-2013, 2013, doi:10.5194/tc-7-1247-2013.

Pauto in 2011