The "poor weather" (PW) queue is a program to fill telescope time under very 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 all 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" above (and in the Phase II definition); it will also be identified as such in the ITAC comments.

Acceptable observing condition constraints for poor weather programs are:

• CC=70%, 90% or "Any" and IQ="Any" and WV="Any" (no restriction on SB)
• CC=90% or "Any" and WV="Any" (no restriction on IQ and SB)

Proposers should provide a very clear and concise scientific justification. They should also describe their strategy for data reduction and fast publication of the results.

PW proposals may be submitted at any time using the latest version of the Gemini Phase I Tool. Submit by choosing "Poor Weather" from the bottom menu in the partner list, entering the time requested, and then clicking "Submit Proposal". Only proposals submitted this way will be seen and reviewed by the relevant staff (the Gemini Directors and Heads of Science Operations). Once validated, approved and ranked, proposals 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.