OMI Mission Objective 1:
Is the ozone layer recovering as expected?

OMI will measure total column ozone on a global basis, continuing the long term TOMS ozone data record and serving as a bridge to the NPOESS ozone monitoring instruments that (OMPS) will be flown by the US late this decade.

In order to understand the cause of observed ozone change it is important to distinguish the altitude at which the change is occurring.
Recovery of total column ozone and lower stratospheric ozone will be complicated by the effects of global warming. Ozone near 40 km, which is controlled mostly by gas phase chemistry, might be a more reliable indicator of ozone recovery. It will be important to connect the OMI observations to other data sets (SBUV/2, GOME, SCIAMACHY, OMPS) to produce a long-term ozone data record for trend detection.