Queue Summary : Semester 2001A

See an important announcement regarding the availability of NIRI during 2001A.

The 2001A queue shown in the table below summarises the programs that have been awarded time on Gemini North. The blocked observing schedule indicates the likely blocks for QuickStart observations. As a reminder, all capabilities are made available on a shared-risks basis.

The queue is constructed from the ranked list of proposals of each National TAC using the merging sequence and is divided into four scientific ranking bands (SRBs; jump directly to band 1, band 2 or band 3). Several proposals have multiple occurrences as they were sub-divided by the relevant NTAC. Only the first three bands are shown in the table. Within each band, all proposals are assumed to have equal scientific merit and have been sorted by PI name for convenience. The choice of which observation within which program to execute next depends on the match to current observing conditions, the balance of each partner's usage and other factors such as future accessibility, whether a program has been started etc. (see a detailed discussion in Puxley 1997; Gemini Preprint #19). The aim is to exhaust band 1 (highest ranked) programs before moving onto band 2 and so on. An observation in band 1 that does not require the best conditions will nevertheless be executed in preference to a band 2 observation even if the latter is a better match. Thus the likelihood of execution decreases from band 1 through to band 4. Bands 1 through 3 fill the nominal time available (excluding weather loss). Programs in band 4 overfill the queue and provide further flexibility with respect to weather conditions and foreseen or unforeseen problems.

Each program has been assigned a Gemini Contact Scientist (CS) who is the point of contact between the Observatory and the Principal Investigator (PI) after the detailed observations are defined by the PI in Phase II. (Prior to submission of Phase II programs, each National Office provides the first point of contact). The Contact Scientist is responsible for overseeing data quality. During this phase of early science use the observing and data processing are largely manual activities and therefore the SRBs are also used to prioritise program preparation and user support.

Note that individual SRBs will not be in detailed balance with respect to partner shares. Aggregating over two or more bands generally provides an equitable distribution of queue loading (in hours, not in the number of proposals). Additional flexibility is available when executing observations to balance the partner usage of time. The intent is to achieve balance over 2 or 3 semesters, not a single semester.

The columns in the table are:
Ref #: Gemini reference number (note that this is different from any internal National TAC reference number). Click on it to see the proposal abstract.
PI: name of Principal Investigator.
Partner: partner or country to which time will be charged (US, UK, CA=Canada, AU=Australia, CH=Chile, AR=Argentina, BR=Brazil, UH=University of Hawaii (host), GS=Gemini staff).
Title: the title of the program.
Instrument: NIRI for 2001A.
Status: the execution status of the program (blank field = not yet in preparation, "in prep" = Phase II preparation of detailed observation desciptions underway; "started" = executed one or more observations; "continued" = additional data taken for a started program; "data in QA" = data undergoing pre-ship quality assessment; "data sent" = data for one or more observations and calibrations sent to PI; "done" = program complete).
Update: the date when the status information was last updated.

Last update May 3, 2001; Phil Puxley