OMI's Contributions to the Success of the
NASA Aura Mission & U.S. Contribution to the
Success of OMI
Aura Project Science Office
Anne Douglass, Joanna Joiner,
Bryan Duncan
Aura Mission Operations
Wynn Watson, Bill Guit, Angie
Kelly, + many others
OMI STM, de Bilt, Netherlands, March 11-13, 2014
The Aura Mission : 3 Main Science Questions
•What are the processes that
control air quality?
•What are the roles of ozone,
aerosols and water vapor in climate
change?
•Is the stratospheric ozone layer
changing as expected?
OMI contributes to providing critical data to answer all 3 questions!
The “A-Train” Constellation
Aura = caboose of A-Train
MLS
Aura Satellite
• Orbit: Polar: 705 km, sun-synchronous, 98o inclination,
ascending 1:45 PM equator crossing time.
• Launched July 15, 2004. Aura is an integrated observatory
HIRDLS
High Resolution Dynamics Limb
Sounder (defunct)
OMI
Ozone Monitoring Instrument
for atmospheric composition.
MLS
Microwave Limb Sounder
TES
Tropospheric Emission
Spectrometer
OMI is a “workhorse” of the Aura Mission
→ OMI’s many data products are being used in:
• numerous applications (e.g., U.S. Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs); U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operational activities; U.S.
air quality agencies)
• research studies on Aura’s main
research focii (e.g., surface air quality
including by NASA’s Air Quality Applied
Sciences Team (AQAST), ozone layer
monitoring))
• jointly retrieved products (e.g.,
OMI/TES & MLS/OMI tropospheric ozone)
• synergistic studies with A-Train
satellites (see Joanna Joiner’s talk)
Contributions from
U.S. OMI Team
→ NASA Aura provides funding
for U.S. OMI Team
• produces the OMI-TOMS total
ozone product to continue the longterm records began with Nimbus 7
• provides calibration support to the
KNMI team
• produces ancillary products to
support the team (e.g., OMI-MODIS
collocated cloud product)
• supports products, including those
developed jointly with KNMI & FMI
U.S. Contributions: Communications
→ Communicate successes/issues with NASA Headquarters
→ Senior Review (every 2 years; 4th SR in 2015)
• Update on the health of instruments & spacecraft, summary of
science accomplishments & goals, evolving science questions, etc.
→ Promotion/Coordination of Aura’s Science Objectives
• Representation at scientific conferences, science highlights, etc.
• Always wearing our “Aura hats”.
→ Aura Science Team Meetings (~annual)
• September 15-18, 2014 in College Park, MD USA
U.S. Contributions: Mission Operations
• Continuous monitoring of health and safety of spacecraft &
instruments
• Monitoring debris - avoidance maneuvers when needed
• Enable expedited processing of level 0-1b data on NASA
supercomputers
• Close coordination with the KNMI OMI team (e.g., to resolve
instrument anomalies, 24 hr/7 days a week operational chain)
• Continued NASA funding for sustaining engineering support for the
OMI Instrument Adapter Module (IAM)
• Coordination with other A-Train satellites
• Excellent (100%) data capture
• Etc.
U.S. Contributions: OMI Data Processing,
Distribution, Archival
• OMI Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS) provides
fast data delivery via Direct Broadcast, which gives end-users rapid
access (~3 hours) to the data (i.e., “near real time” data)
• OMI SIPS process most standard products (L2-3).
• Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data Information and Services Center
(DISC) distributes most standard products:
http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Education & Public
Outreach
• Development of activities &
materials.
OMI is the star!
•OMI ozone hole lenticular (meeting of the
parties to the Montreal Protocol)
• OMI ozone hole poster
• OMI NO2 lenticulars (part of U.S.
Congressional record)
• + many more OMI materials.
Just ask us if you want EPO materials.
Aura 10th Anniversary (July 15, 2014)
We need OMI Team’s input.
•TED-style talks at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (July 15)
Paul Newman (stratosphere)
Andy Dessler (climate)
Daniel Jacob (troposphere)
• Aura STM in College Park, MD USA (September 15-18)
Enhanced STM with invited talks, including summaries of Aura’s science
achievements over last 10 years
• Special Aura Issues in ACP (Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics) & AMT
(Atmospheric Measurement Techniques)
• Special Session at Fall 2014 AGU in San Francisco
Aura Project Science Office
It is our honor and privilege to represent
Aura and her instruments.
Extra Slides
A-Train Mission Status
• Aqua (Launch: May 4, 2002): Nominal Operations
• Aura (Launch: July 15, 2004): Nominal Operations
• GCOM-W1 (Launch: May 18, 2012; JAXA Global Change
Observation Mission - Water)
 Performing nominally
• CloudSat (Launch: April 26, 2006)
 Performing nominally in its “Daylight-only Operations (DoOp)” mode.
• CALIPSO (Launch: April 26, 2006; NASA-CNES Cloud-Aerosol
Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation )
 Performing nominally; Laser performance continues to be
good (over 4 billion shots on orbit thus far)
• OCO-2 (Launch: July 1, 2014 PLANNED; Orbiting Carbon
Observatory)
 Final launch preparations; Operations Readiness review
scheduled for April 22 -23, 2014.
Aura = caboose of A-Train