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Poor Weather Proposal Process

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The "poor weather" (PW) queue is a program to fill telescope time under poor, but usable, conditions. Time spent on these programs will not be charged to the PI or the partner countries. These are queue programs only but are distinct from the "regular" Band 1 to Band 3 queue. They will be executed only when nothing in the regular queue is observable. In most other respects (NGO and contact scientist support, science archive data distribution) they are identical to other Gemini programs. If your program is in the poor weather queue, it will be designated as "Band 4" it will also be identified as such in the ITAC comments. Since 2010 time accounting, program revisions and data quality assessment has been suspended for Band 4.

As of semester 2011B, acceptable observing condition constraints for poor weather programs are:

  • CC=70%, 80% or "Any" and IQ="Any" and WV="Any" (no restriction on SB)
  • CC="Any" and WV="Any" (no restriction on IQ and SB)

Proposers should provide a very clear and concise scientific justification, including the strategy for data reduction.

PW proposals may be submitted through the normal TAC process or at any time using the Gemini Phase I Tool (PIT). Please check the PIT web page for the appropriate version to use, as this changes throughout the year. Submission is open to users based in partner countries and at host institutions. Submission is also open to Gemini staff. Access for users from exchange time facilities is granted if the agreement with the facility covers poor weather proposals. If submitting during the semester, submit by choosing "Other Proposal Types" in Proposal Class under the "Time Requests" tab, selecting "Poor Weather" in Proposal Type, entering the total time requested, and then clicking "Submit this Proposal" in the Submit tab.. Only proposals submitted this way will be seen and reviewed by the relevant staff (the Heads of Science Operations).

If submitted through the normal TAC process highly ranked proposals that otherwise meet PW criteria may be placed in the usual science ranking bands and have a higher probability of being executed than if placed in the poor weather queue. If they are not placed in the usual ranking bands, then they are placed in the poor weather queue. Proposals received in the course of the semester will be accepted, unranked, into the queue if they are genuinely executable in the poorest conditions and if they are likely to obtain data (in competition with the Semester's queue and poor weather programs). Once validated and approved, programs will be prepared using the Phase II (Observing) Tool to be included and activated in the Observing DataBase (ODB) for their execution in the queue.


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Poor Weather Proposal Process | Gemini Observatory

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