ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee Telecon Face to Face meeting September 25, 2009
- Call date: 2008-09-25 08:30 EDT or 12:30 UT (Friday)
- Duration: 8 hr
- USA Number: 1-866-675-5385
- Outside USA Number: +1 517 444 6916
- Passcode: 8445333#
- Leaders: A. Weinberger, A. Wootten, C. Lonsdale
The first ALMA antenna at the 5050m level prepares for observing on pad 106 outside the Array Operations Site Technical Facility. The transporter shelter is at the background right.
The second quadrant of the ALMA 64 station correlator has joined the ACA correlator and the first quadrant in the AOS TB, where it is progressing to onsite acceptance. With the second quadrant, the 64 station correlator may accommodate up to 32 antennas. Standing in front of the correlator are participants in the Commissioning and Science Verification Review. On the right is Alejandro Saez, the correlator's best friend.
The 'dish' of an AEM antenna takes shape at the OSF facility. Elsewhere, mount structures and receiver cabins have arrived and are being assembled. Photo courtesy ESO.
The Atacama Compact Array antenna stations at the AOS await occupancy. An array of Peter Schilkes is seen here . See
other images.
Attendance
ANASAC Members (
Attendees in RED):
- Alycia Weinberger (DTM) (2009) [Chair]
- Alyssa Goodman (Harvard-Smithsonian, CfA)
- Andrew Baker (Rutgers) (2012) (via phone)
- Andrew Blain (Caltech) (2009) (ASAC Vice Chair, NA)
- Alberto Bolatto (U. Maryland)
- Mike Fall (Space Telescope Science Institute) (2010)
- Tim Heckman (Johns Hopkins) (2010)
- Shardha Jogee (U. Texas) (2010)
- Kelsey Johnson (U. Virginia) (2009)
- Doug Johnstone (HIA/DAO, Victoria) (2009) (via video)
- Leslie Looney (U. Illinois)
- Deborah Padgett (Caltech)
- J. Xavier Prochaska (Lick Observatory) (2010)
- Hsien Shang (ASIAA) (2011)
- Gordon Stacey (Cornell) (2012)
- David Wilner (Harvard-Smithsonian, Center for Astrophysics)
(
Bold = Member of ASAC)
NRAO:
- A. Wootten
- C. Brogan
- T. Hunter
- A. Russell
- F. Lo
- C. Lonsdale
- J. Hibbard
- A. Peck
- A. Evans
- K. Sheth
- R. Friesen
- M. Adams
- J. Stoke
Other Attendees:
Agenda
1) 08:30 - 08:45 Closed Session
2) 08:45 - 09:00 Welcome from NRAO Director and discussion of role of ANASAC in global context (F. Lo)
3) 09:00 - 09:25 Commissioning Status (Peck)
- Apropos ASAC Charge "Continue to review the progress and schedule of the AIV/CSV process, especially with respect to readiness for Early Science. The Board would appreciate a report on the status of plans for Commissioning and Science Verification and for obtaining “ALMA Public Images”, and commentary on the outcome of the Review of CSV plans which will take place in September. "
4) 09:25 - 09:40 ALMA Development (Russell)
- Apropos ANASAC Charge "what does ANASAC consider, in prioritized order of scientific merit to be the priorities for future ALMA development?"
5) 09:40 - 10:15 ALMA operations and the NAASC (Lonsdale/Hibbard)
- Apropos ASAC Charge: "Report on the readiness of the ARC’s to support early science proposals and the of the ALMA helpdesk, and on the plans to reach out to the communities to encourage early science proposals, and to inform the communities about realistic capabilities and performance."
- Apropos ASAC Charge: "Continue to monitor the readiness of the ALMA software system. Of special interest at present are: the archive, the interface between the observing tool and the archive, and the capture of necessary proposal information by the observing tool, in the context of ALMA operations planning."
- REQUIRED READING: There is not enough information available at this time to move forward with this charge. A release of the Archive User Interface is planned for Dec 2009, and a beta release of the OT is planned for Apr. 2010.
6) 10:15 - 10:30 Break
7) 10:30 - 11:30 ASAC PRC Charge (ASAC members; Wootten)
- Apropos ASAC Charge "Report on the status of the plans for the proposal review process and on what is being done to ensure that all the necessary software and procedures will be established and tested in readiness for the Call for Proposals for Early Science."
8) 11:30 - 12:00 Discussion and Planning of NAASC Workshops (Evans)
- Apropos ANASAC CHARGE Please comment on the form and topic for the 2010 NAASC Workshop and comment upon the 2009 Workshop.
- REQUIRED READING:
- ANASAC_Meeting_TopicsAW.doc: Proposal for 2010 Workshop on 'The Fine Structure Atomic Lines as Probes of the Interstellar Medium'
- ANASAC_Meeting_Topics.doc: Proposal for 2010 Workshop on 'Advancing Chemical Understanding through Astronomical Observations with ALMA'
9) 12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
10) 13:00 - 14:20 ANASAC Charge on ALMA Development (Wootten)
- Apropos ASAC Charge "Provide further commentary on the prioritization of the items that are being considered for funding from the Development Budget, in particular those that might be considered for the first call for proposals."
- Apropos ANASAC CHARGE What does ANASAC consider, in prioritized order of scientific merit to be the important items for future ALMA development?
- REQUIRED READING: Given under item (4) above
- Presentation: ALMA_Development.pptx ALMA Development powerpoint, brought forward from additional materials (a lunch talk that Al gave; includes many development projects)
- Presentation: anasac09_devel.ppt Development/enhancements to ALMA (background slides for some of the projects)
- ALMA Development funding may be available starting FY2010 (next week) with a very small line item.
- Please discuss and recommend how the ANASAC can facilitate a mechanism to solicit the inputs and interests of the North American community.
11) 14:20 - 15:00 ANASAC Discussion (Weinberger)
- Discuss the revisions to Scientific Requirements and Specifications, which are in preparation, and make a recommendation to the Board on approval.
12) 15:00 - 15:15 Break
13) 15:15 - 16:45 Closed session
Membership: Select new ANASAC Chair (Weinberger/subcommittee) Membership: Select new ASAC Vice Chair (Blain/ ASAC subcommittee)
Draft Report
14) 16:45 - 17:00 Summary of draft report to NRAO (Weinberger)
15) 18:00 Exeunt omnes
Supplemental Material
- ANASAC Matters
- Discussion of ANASAC Charges.
- Standing Charge. The ANASAC has a standing charge to review the latest ASAC charges, and provide input to the ASAC members. We ask that the ANASAC pay particular to attention to the charge in which the JAO is asking the ASAC to take a prominent role in defining the scientific priorities for the ALMA development plan. Please discuss and recommend how the ANASAC can facilitate a mechanism to solicit the inputs and interests of the North American community and make sure the ASAC deliberations encompass the needs of the NA community.
- What does ANASAC consider, in prioritized order of scientific merit to be the important items for future ALMA development?
- The ANASAC is requested to provide:
- guidance on the form and scientific topic for the 2010 NAASC Workshop and
- comment on the 2009 Workshop.
- ASAC Charges. Next f2f meeting in Garching in October. Regional meetings (ANASAC, EASAC, EuSAC) are under way. Sci IPT supports these meetings.
-
- Discussion of ALMA Board Charges to ASAC. These are the current charges:
- Continue to monitor the readiness of the ALMA software system. Of special interest at present are: the archive, the interface between the observing tool and the archive, and the capture of necessary proposal information by the observing tool, in the context of ALMA operations planning.
- Continue to review the progress and schedule of the AIV/CSV process, especially with respect to readiness for Early Science. The Board would appreciate a report on the status of plans for Commissioning and Science Verification and for obtaining “ALMA Public Images”, and commentary on the outcome of the Review of CSV plans which will take place in September.
- Discuss the revisions to Scientific Requirements and Specifications, which are in preparation, and make a recommendation to the Board on approval.
- Report on the status of the plans for the proposal review process and on what is being done to ensure that all the necessary software and procedures will be established and tested in readiness for the Call for Proposals for Early Science.
- Report on the readiness of the ARC’s to support early science proposals and the of the ALMA helpdesk, and on the plans to reach out to the communities to encourage early science proposals, and to inform the communities about realistic capabilities and performance.
- Provide further commentary on the prioritization of the items that are being considered for funding from the Development Budget, in particular those that might be considered for the first call for proposals.
- Other ASAC activities which are not formal charges from the Board.
- Community sounding on expectations for early science, and ALMA information resources for the general community.
- ASAC will continue to look for ways in which ALMA construction and operations might be more environmentally friendly, especially in terms of energy use (without compromising science). (Issues of energy use are discussed in the Marshall et al. Decadal Survey white paper at http://low-energy-astro.physics.ucsb.edu/Marshall_Energy_APP_EPO_IPP_FFP_DEM.pdf)
- ANASAC Charge Supporting Materials
- Development Charge
- Workshop 2010 Charge
- ASAC Charge Supporting Materials
- Charge on AIV/CSV process
- Charges on ARC preparedness and software readiness
- FY2010 Program Plan (what we plan to do next year): ALMA.ProgPlanFY10_final.pdf
- CASA Next release (3.0) will be December. This is a VERY IMPORTANT release, as it will be the version used for EVLA early science.
- Simulator: Upgraded and name changed in latest release. The simulator task is now called simdata (used to be almasimmos). See Appendix B of the Cookbook for more info.
- J. Gallimore wiki on CASA data reduction
- Spectral Line Catalog Tool
- Charge on Proposal Review Process
- Board Report (to be attached)
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AlWootten - 2009-08-18 update 2009-09-14