OMI Calibration and Validation Announcement of Opportunity

Chronology

The OMI-AO was published in June 2004 and at the closing day 21 proposals had been received originating from scientists all over Europe. We were delighted to learn that many of our respected colleagues in the field of atmospheric research responded to the AO and that high quality contributions to the validation of OMI satellite data products were foreseen. We were also delighted to learn that a fair number of proposals originated from scientists in related fields of research and from research institutes in Eastern Europe and Russia, broadening the scope of the OMI-AO and adding a number of correlative data networks. The names and addresses of the OMI-AO PIs can be found in Chapter 19 of this document.

Following the first round of the international review of submitted proposals in December 2004, the majority of contributions were accepted. From the PIs of the remaining proposals we requested additional information on topics as more detailed descriptions of their instrumentation, a more elaborate time line of activities, and to include the validation of OMI standard data products. By March 2005, all OMI-AO proposals were accepted. PIs were encouraged to send proof of their funding to the OMI Validation Office at KNMI prior to gaining access to OMI data via the Aura Validation Data Center (AVDC). Upon request several PIs received a letter of recommendation to send to their funding agency for additional support of their funding request. To date, almost all PIs have obtained funding for their work and have been granted access to OMI data via the AVDC.

Following the review and the acceptance of the proposals, most scientists have immediately started working with OMI data. At first every half year and later on every year the results of all projects were compiled into progress reports and made available via this website. Results achieved under the banner of the OMI AO have been widely presented at various international scientific symposia.