European Organisation
for Astronomical
Research in the
Southern Hemisphere
Organisation Européenne
pour des Recherches
Astronomiques
dans l’Hémisphère Austral
Europäische Organisation
für astronomische
Forschung in der
südlichen Hemisphäre
DMO ARC Department
The European ALMA
Regional Centre
Memorandum
of Understanding
Doc. No.: DMO-xxx-ESO-xxxxx-xxxx
Issue: 1.1
Date: 5.2.2008
Prepared:
P. Andreani
5.2.2008
Name
Date
Signature
Name
Date
Signature
Name
Date
Signature
Approved:
Released:
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CHANGE RECORD
ISSUE
DATE
SECTION/PARA. AFFECTE REASON/INITIATION DOCU
D
MENTS/REMARKS
0.2
0.3
1.0
1.1
30/11/07
21/12/07
22/1/08
5/2/08
Introduction, Sections 5, 6,
Sections 2, 4,
Typos, English editing
Sections 2,3
1.2
17/3/08
Sections All
1.3
6/5/08
Sections 1,2,3,4
After telecon of Dec 3rd
After telecon Jan. 14th
Comments by T.Wilson and F.
Comeron
After comments by MH, TM,
FG
After
Simon
Garrington’s
comments, JB, MH
RELATED DOCUMENTS
ISSUE
DATE
NAME OF THE DOCUMENT
VERSION D Oct. 9 2007
OPERATIONS PLAN
103 meeting Jun 7-8 2004 ALMA REGIONAL CENTRES
Jan 2004
Charge to the RSC WG
Sep 2004
Minutes of Meeting
Oct 26-27 2005 Report on the European ARC
VERSION A Nov. 2007
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
BODIES
JAO
ESO COUNCIL
EU ALMA BOARD
ESAC
STC
ESO ARC
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VERSION A March 2007
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Guidelines for the ARC nodes ACC
Table of Contents
SCOPE .....................................................................................................................................................5
1 THE EUROPEAN ALMA REGIONAL CENTRE ..............................................................................6
2
THE ARC FUNCTIONS AND DELIVERABLES ..............................................................................6
3
DESCRIPTION OF CORE AND ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AT DIFFERENT STAGES .............7
3.1 EARLY PRE-OPERATIONS STAGE .............................................................................................................7
3.2 LATE PRE-OPERATIONS STAGE................................................................................................................8
3.3 FULL OPERATIONS STAGE .......................................................................................................................9
4
THE ORGANIZATION AND INTERACTION OF ESO ARC CORE AND THE ARC NODES 10
4.1 ESO RESPONSIBILITY............................................................................................................................. 10
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4.2 ARC NODES RESPONSIBILITIES ............................................................................................................. 10
5
FUNDINGS ............................................................................................................................................ 11
6
RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES ........................................................................................................... 11
7
ENTRY INTO EFFECT, DURATION AND TERMINATION ....................................................... 11
SIGNATURES.............................................................................................................................................. 12
ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 13
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Scope
This document is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ESO ALMA Regional
Centre (ARC) Department of the Data Management and Operations Division (DMO) and the
ARC nodes of (in alphabetic order):
European ARC nodes
Country, location
Representative
INAF-Bologna
I, Bologna
Jan Brand
Bonn-Bochum-Cologne
D, Bonn
Frank Bertoldi
IRAM
F,D,E, Grenoble
Frederic Gueth
Allegro
NL, Leiden
Michiel Hogerheijde
Manchester
UK, Jordrell Bank Centre Tom Muxlow
for Astrophysics
Onsala
S,DK,SF, Onsala
Observatory
Space John Conway
This MoU covers the responsibilities of the ESO ARC (hereafter the ARC core) in
coordinating the activities of the ARC nodes, delivering software provided by the JAO, and
any documentation and information material related to the scope of the ARC and of the nodes,
and the responsibilities of the ARC nodes in the provision of advanced software and staff
effort for face-to-face user support and community development on a best effort basis. The
services are described in this document and in the documents listed in section ‘Related
Documents’ on page 3.
It may be updated when necessary to document any official changes between the parties and
when any major changes in this structure will occur.
ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
1 The European ALMA Regional Centre
The interface between ALMA and the European user communities is formed by the European
ALMA Regional Centre (EU ARC), which will comprise a cluster of nodes located throughout
Europe, together with a core centre located at the ESO headquarters in Garching. This core
centre is part of ESO’s Data Management Operations Division (DMO).
The EU ARC will be the point of contact for European ALMA users from the moment of
proposal submission through to the subsequent data analysis.
The core centre will be responsible for the delivery of data to principal investigators, the
maintenance and refinement of the ALMA data archive, and the provision of feedback to the
software relevant for ALMA science operations. It will also provide help to assist users in the
submission of proposals and observing programmes.
Fundamental to ALMA’s success in Europe is the high level of user support services provided
by the network of ARC nodes. These are required to fully realize the transformational nature
of ALMA and to maximize the scientific return for the European community.
The arrangement of geographically distributed ARC nodes outside ESO for science support
was approved by ESAC, STC, EAB and ESO Council (see documents in page 3). Six full
ARC nodes were proposed; a seventh proposal by Portugal was for a start-up effort.
Face-to-face support provided by each of the ARC nodes is open to all users, although it is
expected that normally users will utilise their nearest node (or the node funded by their own
country or organization). An ARC Coordinating Committee (see Section 4.1) will monitor
ARC node usage and any significant imbalance in the distribution of requests for face-to-face
support may result in a redirection of the requests to another node.
Requests for specialised help will normally be directed to those nodes with expertise in the
relevant subject areas.
2 The ARC functions and deliverables
2.1 Core functions provided by the central node
The core services of the ARC at the ESO headquarters are to provide service to and
coordinate user support for European astronomers, hosting and maintaining a complete mirror
of the ALMA archive. The services to be provided include:
Tools for proposal preparation, preparation of phase 2 materials, the delivery of the calibrated
science products to the principal investigators.
Full face-to-face user support is considered of fundamental importance and is a project
deliverable.
These core services are detailed in documents listed on page 3 (Operations Plan version D,
Implementation Plan version A).
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Core services are under the responsibility of the ALMA project and the ESO ARC has to
ensure that this service is delivered. ARC nodes might be subcontracted to provide part of this
core service.
2.2 Additional functions provided by the nodes
The distributed network of ARC nodes will provide additional services to the ALMA user
community, comprising:
User support, face-to-face help,
Enhanced data reduction and exploitation of the archive,
Development and maintenance of new software and techniques,
Special projects support,
Scientific community development: fellowships, user grants (where applicable), student and
postdoctoral programmes, organization of workshops and schools and any other support
facilities for users, and
Community outreach.
Any additional tasks of the ARC nodes may be the outcomes of continuous discussions
between the ARC nodes and ESO.
3 Description of core and additional
support at different Operations stages
3.1 Early pre-operations stage
This stage refers to the period prior to the beginning of the Commissioning and Science
Verification.
3.1.1 Tasks of the central node
A major activity of the ARC at this stage is to test the user software system, consisting of the
Observing Tool, the offline system (data reduction) and the pipeline (automatic data
reduction) and the Archive.
ARC core staff will be actively involved in software testing via the following projects:
ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Participation in user tests organised by the Computing Team of the offline system,
Observing Tool (OT), Pipeline, Archive, etc.
In-house testing of the offline system, OT, Pipeline, Archive, etc.
Organisation of “scientific processing” tests within the European user community.
3.1.2 Tasks of the nodes
ARC node staff will be actively involved in offline and proposal submission software testing:
Either through user training organised in consultation with the ESO ARC core.
Or through user tutorials organised in consultation with the ESO ARC core.
ARC staff will train the community by organizing specialized workshops dedicated to offline
software and/or to ALMA observations in general.
The EU ARC core is the primary point of contact for the offline software users and testers in
Europe and a contact astronomer will be appointed among the ARC astronomers. S/he will be
the interface between the users and the developers collecting feedback from the users and
organizing them in a useful way for the developers.
3.2 Late pre-operations stage
3.2.1 Tasks of the central node
This stage starts with the beginning of the Commissioning and Science Verification (CSV)
and ends when the project releases the call for Early Science.
A major task of ESO ARC personnel at this stage is the participation in Commissioning and
Science Verification (CSV). ARC core staff will travel to Chile for extended periods of time
(3 to 6 months) to help with CSV and to train other ARC astronomers – who will be hired
throughout this stage – in ALMA operations.
During this phase ARC core staff support software testing, review and refinement of the user
documents for the Phase 1 and Phase 2 tools, as well as the offline data reduction system.
ARC core staff will be involved in preparing the release of the first call for proposals (done on
behalf of the JAO by the ARCs) and will prepare all material required for the support of phase
1 and phase 2 submission. All this material will be made available through the ESO ARC
webpage.
Finally, ARC core staff will have to provide the European community with access to the
science verification data.
3.2.2 Tasks of the nodes
Personnel from the ARC nodes may, subject to approval by the ALMA project Scientist,
participate in Commissioning and Science Verification (CSV). This activity is coordinated by
the ALMA Project scientist and in Europe by the European Project Scientist.
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ARC node astronomers are invited at ESO for regular meetings (at least once per year in this
early stage and more frequently at later stages) to share information, coordinate support,
documentation and to introduce any software developments related to user support.
ARC nodes’ staff will organise regular workshops/tutorials to update the other nodes and ESO
ARC staff with their progress in software developments.
3.3 Full Operations stage
3.3.1 Tasks of the central node
The ARC operations stage begins with the Early Science Decision Point. At this point in time,
the ARC will be carrying out its full core activities. The details of these activities are given in
the Operations Plan and in the ESO Implementation Plan. In the remainder of this section,
these core activities are listed.
Phase 1 operations: call for proposals and support to astronomers preparing their proposals,
assistance in coordinating the refereeing process and in assessing the technical feasibility of
the proposals.
Phase 2 operations: preparation of the technical details required to schedule and execute the
proposed observations.
Data product support: delivery of the final raw and pipeline-reduced data to the PIs.
Archive operations: The ESO ARC will hold a complete synchronized copy of the ALMA
archive.
Feedback on operational processes and tools
ARC core staff will be responsible for providing feedback to the observatory (JAO) on
ALMA operational processes and tools.
3.3.2 Tasks of the nodes
Face-to-face user support
Advanced software developments and maintenance
Advanced user support
Help in archival research: assistance to users of the ALMA archive in identifying and
using the data products suitable for their scientific projects
Storage of advanced data products: data reduced at the nodes might be stored at the
nodes or in the main ALMA archive
Feedback to ESO-ARC
Community development
ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
4 The organization and interaction of the
ESO ARC core and the ARC nodes
4.1 Central node responsibility
The ESO ARC is the responsibility of the ARC Manager. Each of the ARC nodes nominates a
representative who is responsible for its activity and the fulfillment of this MoU.
In this geographical distribution of nodes, ESO ARC plays a central and coordinating role to
ensure that it is effective in supporting all parts of the ESO community. In particular the ESO
ARC will ensure that software development and distribution within the EU ARC is efficient.
An ARC Coordinating Committee (ACC), consisting of one representative of each ARC node
and chaired by the ARC manager, is set up. The ACC provides descriptions of the tasks of
each node, coordinates the activities of the core and the nodes in terms of tasks and expertise
areas. Staffing and budget are the responsibility of the individual nodes.
Communication between the nodes is achieved through an interactive web-page (a wiki page),
which is only accessible to registered users within ESO and the ARC nodes, through face-toface meetings and regular telecons.
Regular visits of the ARC Manager and/or his/her deputy to the ARC nodes are scheduled
once a year in the early stages and more frequently during full Operations stage.
4.2 ARC nodes responsibilities
Each node agrees to carry out the tasks described in sections 2 and 3, and further detailed in
the Guidelines, on a best-effort basis (see Documents on page 3).
Each node will report regularly all relevant information to the EU ARC core and the other
nodes, through web interfaces, telecons, and face-to-face meetings. Each node also agrees to
be visited regularly by the ARC manager or her/his deputy to further ensure efficient
information exchange within the EU ARC.
These visits are scheduled each year in the early stages and more frequently during the full
Operations stage, to ensure that homogenous service and user support are provided at each
node.
Each node will notify the core and the other nodes in a timely manner about any problems that
arise with its compliance with this section, and ask for an ACC meeting (electronic or face-to
-face) to find a solution.
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5 Funding
Funding for the nodes is sought from their own national funding agencies. Additional funding
proposals involving multiple nodes plus core (for instance for EU funding for networks) will
be coordinated by the ACC.
6 Resolution of disputes
Should any dispute arise on any matter relating to the interpretation or the implementation of
this MoU, such dispute will be referred to the ACC which will seek to resolve the dispute by
mutual agreement.
7 Entry into effect, duration and
termination
This MoU will become effective upon signature and will remain in effect until 2015 with
automatic extensions with periods of three years each until the end of ALMA operations,
unless otherwise notified.
This MoU can be renegotiated at any time when core/additional functions are redefined or
additional Parties are interested in joining the ARC network, by giving a written notice to the
other Parties which will be discussed by the ACC.
ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Signatures
European ARC nodes
Institutes
INAF-Bologna
INAF
Signatures
Bonn-Bochum-Cologne
IRAM
IRAM
Leiden
Manchester
Onsala
ARC Department at ESO
European Southern Observatory
Abbreviations
ACA
ALMA Compact Array
ACC
ARC Coordinating Committee
ALMA
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
AoD
Astronomer-on-Duty
AOS
Array Operations Site
AOT
ALMA Observing Tool
ARC
ALMA Regional Center
CSV
Commissioning & Science Verification
EAB
European ALMA Board
ESAC
European Science Advisory Committee
ESDP
Early Science Decision Point
ESO
European Southern Observatory
FTE
Full-Time Equivalent
ISM
International Staff Member
JAO
Joint ALMA Office
OSF
Operations Support Facility
OT
Observing Tool
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PRC
Program Review Committee
STC
Science and Technical Committee
SV
Science Verification
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