Ozone monitoring instrument

The ozone monitoring instrument (OMI)[1] is a nadir-viewing visual and ultraviolet spectrometer aboard the NASA Aura spacecraft, which is part of the satellite constellation A-Train.

[2] From a technical point of view, OMI instrument use hyperspectral imaging to observe solar-backscatter radiation to the space with an spectral range that covers the visible and ultraviolet.

Its spectral capabilities were designed to achieve specific requirements of total ozone amounts retrievals in terms of accuracy and precision.

The scientific part of the OMI project is managed by KNMI (principal investigator Prof. Dr. P. F. Levelt now at the Delft University of Technology), in close co-operation with NASA and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Has been uses in operational services by European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for ozone and air quality forecasts, and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs) for the rerouting of aircraft in case of a volcanic eruption.

[22][23] One important aspect of satellite instruments for scientific measurements is the evolution of the performance during the life-cycle of the sensors, as well as, the continuous evaluation of the quality of the data products.

In the case of an instrument like OMI the main aspects to consider are: the radiometric and spectral stability, the row anomaly, and detector degradation.

The International Team of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument has received several awards for its contributions to a better understanding of the Earth system:

Image of polar mesospheric clouds taken on 10 July 2007 by OMI
These maps of ozone concentrations over the Arctic come from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite. The left image shows March 19, 2010, and the right shows the same date in 2011.