OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument)

OMI is the Ozone Monitoring Instrument flown on NASA's Aura mission for atmospheric chemistry observations ^[1][2]. It is a nadir-viewing ultraviolet-visible imaging spectrograph that measures backscattered solar radiation in three channel groups from 270 to 500 nm ^[1][2]. The UV-1 channel covers 270 to 314 nm, UV-2 covers 306 to 380 nm, and the visible channel covers 350 to 500 nm, giving about 1560 spectral samples across the instrument ^[2].

OMI is designed for daily global atmospheric monitoring rather than targeted high-resolution imaging. Its swath is about 2600 km, and global-mode nadir pixels are about 13 x 24 km ^[1]. The instrument supports ozone, aerosol, cloud, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, formaldehyde, bromine monoxide, and related atmospheric chemistry retrievals from the Aura platform ^[1][3]. For buyers comparing trace-gas archives, the value proposition is long-running public atmospheric composition data with global daily sampling and ultraviolet-visible sensitivity across key ozone and pollution bands ^[1][3].

OMI was built by Dutch Space and TNO with Finnish subcontractors.^[1]. Its measurement approach fits workflows that need continuity with Aura atmospheric products, especially retrieval chains that use solar backscatter in the ultraviolet and visible spectrum. Users should treat OMI as a chemistry and column-retrieval sensor, not a land-imaging payload: its spatial sampling, spectral layout, and mission design prioritize global atmospheric coverage over scene-level spatial detail ^[1][2].