Pinnacles Desert Vicarious Calibration Site
Approximately 200km north of Perth in Western Australia is the Pinnacles Desert, where we have developed an autonomous vicarious calibration site. The Pinnacles Desert Vicarious Calibration Site (PIAU) is designed to support spaceborne imaging spectroscopy sensors and the calibration of other multispectral optical sensors such as Landsat Next and Sentinel-2. Instruments on the site have been acquiring radiometric data and associated meteorological and atmospheric composition data since May 2022. The site is part of the NASA AERONET global network measuring Aerosol Optical Depth and is expected to join the Committee on Earth Observations RadCalNet vicarious calibration network in the near future.
What makes the site unique?
PIAU is one of very few instrumented and maintained vicarious calibration site in the Southern Hemisphere, important for launches that occur during Northern Hemisphere winter periods. It one of the brightest vicarious calibration sites, with reflectance values up to 80% across the VNIR-SWIR ranges, making it ideal for radiometric calibration of optical sensors. The uniform and bare sand dunes consist of mainly carbonate and quartz sand with minor amounts of goethite and kaolinite allowing it to be used for validation of some important mineral products across the VNIR-SWIR and TIR ranges. The mineral compositions have been independently validated, hence the site could also be potentially used for wavelength verification.
Which satellite missions does it support?
| CHIME | ESA | To be launched 2029 |
| Trishna | CNES/ISRO | To be launched 2026 |
| EnMap | DLR | Operational since April 2022 |
| DESIS | DLR/Teledyn | Operational since June 2018 |
| ECOSTRESS | NASA | Operational since June 2018 |
CSIRO take NASA colleagues to visit the Pinnacles Desert Optical Vicarious Calibration site. Credit: WA Dept Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
Instrumentation
PresentCIMEL CE318-TU12 BRDF Sun Photometer Gill GMX600 Weather station Kipp and Zonen CMP3 Pyranometer Raspberry Pi Skycamera with fisheye lens |
Future4x Heitronics KT-15 IIP Thermal Radiometers with Campbell Scientific loggers NASA JPL TIR Radiometer (in collaboration with NASA JPL) HYPSTAR-XR hyperspectral sensor (in collaboration with NPL-UK)
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Measured and observed data
Surface reflectance, Aerosol optical depth, Aerosol absorption, Aerosol size distribution, Refractive index, Single scattering albedo, Phase function, Water vapour, Spectral Flux, Radiative forcing, Atmospheric Temperature, Surface pressure, Humidity, Dew point, Wind Speed, Wind direction, Rainfall, Tilt, Compass, GPS, Skyview photo.
