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- 2006-10-25 14:30 UT Please check your local time; it may have changed!
- Duration: 1 hr
- USA Toll Free Number: 877-874-1919
- Toll Number: +1-203-320-9891
- Passcode: 185064
- Leader: Al Wootten
Topics
- Old Business The enhanced Agenda from last meeting is available. Science IPT notes from last month's telecon are in the agenda in red.
Pictures from Seiichi Sakamoto. Until the OSF building is complete in early 2008, the work of assembly, integration and verification of elements of ALMA will be led from this temporary building, located near the office buildings.
- New Business--Project news/updates (Wootten, Wilson, Kawabe)
- JAO Project Scientist Turno now in effect transitioned to Wootten.
- ALMA Project Scientist applications are under review.
- Current Science IPT Schedule.
- Directories
- Science IPT Directory All contributors to ALMA Science IPT (Sept06). This was recently updated. Please send AW any corrections or changes. * Please update your information for the new edition.
- ALMA Directory ALMA Directory v3.0
Science IPT Group Activity Reports
Please include your Group Activity Report here (How to Enter Your Report), or email it to AlWootten
Project Scientists
- Science IPT -
- ALMA Working Group on Spectral Line Frequencies.
- The wikio page for the AWGSLF can be found here: ALMA Working Group on Spectral Line Frequencies.
- The frequency protection document/project is now under the AWGSLF and little work has been done on that with the more immediate work needing to be done on Splatalogue to prepare for upcoming meetings on the topic of Spectral Line Databases.
- TR recently attended the Workshop on Submillimeter and Far-Infrared Laboratory Spectroscopy in Support of Herschel, SOFIA and ALMA in Pasadena hosted by JPL and Caltech. The major "theme" of the meeting was how to get rid of the "weeds" that will be in the high frequency bands of ALMA, Herschel and SOFIA.
- The so called "Gang of 5" weeds were identified as methanol, ethyl cyanide, methyl formate, dimethyl ether and SO2. They are designated as "weeds" because they have strong spectral features at a number of wavelengths and they are in a high abundance in the ISM. We all agreed and also suggested that there may be more species that would pose problems given the sensitivity of these instruments. That was the primary focus.
- We (ALMA/NRAO) presented Splatalogue - the Spectral Line Database for Molecular Spectroscopy, which was very well received. It was clear there was a need for this project from the astronomical community. They feel confident in our ability to complete the project. Furthermore, Bill Latter representing Herschel would like to use the tool for HSPOT, the Herschel Observing Tool and he is planning on calling in to the NAASC meeting next week to discuss further collaboration/cooperation between Herschel and ALMA. 1 Astronomer Outreach: NRAO Newsletter ESO Newsletter NAOJNews. NRAO ALMA Calendar
- ARCs.
- Group Activities (all)
- Next meeting is on Nov 29th (14:30 UT).
Emerson/Laing/Vila-Vilaro -- Instrument Scientists
Conway, Holdaway -- Configuration Group
- The Technical specifications and SOW for the IFB for the AOS Road network design have been contracted. A contractor will be on the site 7 August to begin design. A design for road and fiber network at the high site is expected in September. Design of the extended array should occur during October-November.
- New Configuration submitted for approval Passed CCB.
- Y+ configuration now under design by Holdaway.
- Proposed ACA Configuration approved.
- ArrayCenter shows photos of the region of the center of the Array.
- Calibration Plan: Current version of the calibration plan and associated documents ("examples", "roadmaps", "matrices", etc.) posted. Comments welcome.
- Calibration Examples: The "meat" of the Calibration Plan. Review of these documents nearly complete.
- Ancillary Calibration Devices: Documents which describe the weather station and temperature profile technical specifications have been developed. Will use these documents as part of the RFQ process for these devices. NOTE: I need suggested vendors for the temperature profiler.
Robert Lucas -- SSR
- Latest SSR meeting (2006-09-13)
- Holography control software is completed - still to be tested at ATF
- Development of Single Field Interferometry in simulation (phase 2) is continuing.
- A presentation on observing modes was given to ASAC.
Michiel Hogerheijde -- DRSP
- The update to DRSP 2.0 is well under way. So far I have received 50 project descriptions, including 17 new ones. I have reminded the coordinators of 8 science areas (out of a total of 22), that I have not received any input from them yet. I hope to have their input within 2 weeks.
- On the same time line I will approach about 10-15 persons from ASAC, ESAC, ANASAC, and JSAC to review 5-10 projects EACH by the end of November. The projects will be made available on the DRSP web site. I still aim for a initial report on the DRSP update by the end of the year.
- Commissioning and Science Verification
Mark Holdaway/Steve Myers, Reid -- Imaging
The CR4 hygrometer was sent to John Buetow at Buck Research incorporated to give it maintenance and for recalibration. The instrument was delivered to the manufacturer. The unit requires some repairs. The TE cooler is not cooling below -20 C is the biggest problem. To repair it, I would also need to upgrade the optics and the main board and replace
possibly the whole assembly below the sample chamber. Cost to repair it would be substantial.
Alternative--send the CR-4 from the ATF to be deployed to the OSF in late Fall. Sakamoto located two possible locations--one near the holography tower has the advantage of power and internet connection. Best option, given that the wind comes from west, candidate location may be in the southern part of the SEF areas, near the border of the 1 km square OSF area. However, power and internet availability there are not readily available.
Science Corner:
Calendar
Official JAO Calendar New!!
ALMA Events of Interest
(see also Al's
ALMA Biweekly Calendar)
2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
Day |
Date |
Time |
Event |
location |
details |
We |
Jun 28 |
1430UT |
ALMA Sci IPT Telecon |
Telecon |
|
Fri-Sun |
Sep 20-22 |
All Day |
Pre-Production Design Review for the Vertex ALMA Antenna |
Duisberg, Germany |
Thurs-Fri |
9-10 November 2006 |
all day |
ALMA Board Meeting |
Madrid |
TBD |
Upcoming Meetings
Science with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) II November 13-17; Madrid, Spain
Astrophysical Masers and their Environments 2007 March 12-16, Alice Springs, Australia
50th anniversary of the founding of NRAO
Delayed NRAO wishes to remain 49 a bit longer...; Charlottesville, Virginia
See also
NAASC listing
--
AlWootten - 16 Oct 2006