  Mesoscale model such as Meso-Nh have proven to be highly reliable in
reproducing 3D maps of optical turbulence (see Refs. 1, 2, 3, 4) above
mid-latitude astronomical sites. These last years ground-based astronomy has
been looking towards Antarctica. Especially its summits and the Internal
Continental Plateau where the optical turbulence appears to be confined in a
shallow layer close to the icy surface. Preliminary measurements have so far
indicated pretty good value for the seeing above 30-35 m: 0.36" (see Ref. 5)
and 0.27" (see Refs. 6, 7) at Dome C. Site testing campaigns are however
extremely expensive, instruments provide only local measurements and
atmospheric modelling might represent a step ahead towards the search and
selection of astronomical sites thanks to the possibility to reconstruct 3D Cn2
maps over a surface of several kilometers. The Antarctic Plateau represents
therefore an important benchmark test to evaluate the possibility to
discriminate sites on the same plateau. Our group8 has proven that the analyses
from the ECMWF global model do not describe with the required accuracy the
antarctic boundary and surface layer in the plateau. A better description could
be obtained with a mesoscale meteorological model. In this contribution we
present the progress status report of numerical simulations (including the
optical turbulence - Cn2) obtained with Meso-Nh above the internal Antarctic
Plateau. Among the topic attacked: the influence of different configurations of
the model (low and high horizontal resolution), use of the grid-nesting
interactive technique, forecasting of the optical turbulence during some winter
nights.
