2021A US Gemini Science Program and Scientific Publication Report

The Gemini proposal statistics for the 2021A semester were consistent with trends established over the last few years. The NOIRLab Time Allocation Committee (TAC) received 143 Gemini North proposals requesting ~193 nights (14 of which were for Subaru exchange time), and the estimated oversubscription at the time of the TAC meeting was 2.6. For Gemini South, the TAC received 101 proposals requesting approximately 98 nights; the estimated oversubscription was 1.4. Figure 1 shows the historical demand for Gemini, both in nights and number of proposals.

While GMOS remains the most highly requested instrument on both telescopes, IGRINS, Maroon-X, and GNIRS are also highly sought after. Figure 2 shows the fractional time (in nights) requested for instruments on the Gemini North and Gemini South telescopes in 2021A. IGRINS is the second most requested instrument on Gemini South, after GMOSS, while Maroon-X was the second most requested instrument, after GMOSN, on Gemini North.

US community publications that make use of Gemini time have continued to grow. Figure 3 shows the number of papers published each year from the US community, as of the end of 2020. The number of refereed papers resulting from the NOIRLab TAC allocations are in blue, while the red histogram includes fast turnaround (FT), Large and Long (LPL), and Science Verification (SV) programs with US PIs. The red histogram does not include publications based on FT and LT programs with US co-Is. Thus it is a lower limit to the total number of publications by the US Gemini community.

The number of refereed papers from 2020 that are based on US Gemini time (often in multi-partner programs) and allocated through the NOIRLab TAC is 122, which is lower than in 2019. On the other hand, the difference is compensated by the number of papers published by the US community (US PIs) based on FT, LP, and SV programs, which is ~50, 10 more than in 2019.