OMPS Information

Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS)

OMPS is currently operational on S-NPP and NOAA-20 and will continue on further JPSS missions. The suite consists of three advanced hyperspectral-imaging spectrometers where each has its own thermoelectric CCD-array detectors. Two nadir instruments provide a continuation of TOMS and SBUV/2 total-column and ozone-profile measurements but with improved accuracy and precision using advanced algorithms in order to meet the EDR requirements. The Limb Profiler provides ozone profiles with 3-km resolution, which is improved over the SBUV/2 vertical resolution. The instrument views solar- scattered light in the ultraviolet and the visible. The instrument and algorithm have heritage from the Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment/ Limb Ozone Retrieval Experiment (SOLSE/LORE) instruments flown on the Space Shuttle and Canadian and European instruments on free-flying satellites. OMPS is one of two NPP/JPSS instruments that have long-term stability requirements to meet trend-monitoring requirements.

The OMPS Nadir Mapper system will provide total-column-ozone estimates with full coverage of the sunlit Earth once per day. The Nadir Mapper and Nadir and Limb Profiler records will extend the 25-year total-ozone and ozone-profile records used by ozone-assessment researchers and policy makers to track the health of the ozone layer. OMPS will monitor the Antarctic ozone hole and will also monitor the high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during winter and spring, when the largest ozone trends are typically observed. The improved vertical resolution of the Limb Profiler estimates will allow better testing and monitoring of the complex chemistry involved in ozone destruction near the tropopause. Research algorithms will produce tropospheric aerosol characteristics and tropospheric ozone characteristics.