  These last years ground-based astronomy has been looking towards Antarctica,
especially its summits and the internal continental plateau where the optical
turbulence (OT) appears to be confined in a shallow layer close to the surface.
Preliminary measurements have so far indicated pretty good value for the seeing
above 30-35 m: 0.36" (Agabi et al. 2006), 0.27" (Lawrence et al. 2004) and 0.3"
(Trinquet et al. 2008) at Dome C. Site testing campaigns are however extremely
expensive, instruments provide only local measurements and atmospheric modeling
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 group (Hagelin et al. 2008) has proven that the analyses from the
ECMWF global model do not describe with the required accuracy the antarctic
boundary and surface layers in the plateau. A better description could be
obtained with a mesoscale model. The Meso-Nh model has proven to be reliable in
reproducing 3D maps of OT above mid-latitude astronomical sites (Masciadri et
al. 1999ab, 2004, Masciadri and Jabouille 2005). In this paper we study the
ability of the Meso-Nh model in reconstructing the meteorological parameters as
well as the OT above Dome C with different model configurations. We concentrate
our attention on the model abilities in reproducing the OT surface layer
thickness Hsl and the integral of the Cn2 in the free atmosphere and in the
surface layer. It is worth to highlight that these are the first estimates ever
done so far with a mesoscale model of the optical turbulence above the internal
Antarctic Plateau.
