[Everyone] [Lofar-proposals] Call for LOFAR proposals: Cycle 14 and Long-Term

Wed Feb 5 10:27:34 EST 2020

International LOFAR Telescope 
Proposal Call to the Worldwide Community 
LONG-TERM: 01 June 2020 – 31 May 2022 
AND 
Cycle 14: 01 June 2020 – 30 November 2020 
Submission deadline Wednesday 04 March 2020, 12 UT

Submission only via the online tool NorthStar
( https://lofar.astron.nl/proposal) .  

** Proposers must ensure their justification files adhere to the
instructions given in Northstar, including restrictions on formats and
proposal length, repeated online here
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/justification-file-instructions/instructions-j)
. ** 
New in this call: 
Long-Term proposals: altered rules. 
All proposals: required support taken into account during allocation.
Priority A and B allocations.

LONG-TERM PROPOSALS: The Long-Term observing queue for the period 01
June 2020 to 31 May 2022 will be filled entirely from proposals in
response to this call; no further call is foreseen. About 5500 hours may
be allocated, of which roughly 75% as priority A and 25% as priority B
(explained below). While there are no explicit limits, the Long-Term
queue is intended for proposals that either require a more substantial
amount of observing time than can realistically be allocated within one
semester cycle, or that demonstrate that the observing has an intrinsic
long-term or persistent nature.
Long-Term projects are restricted to a limited set of observing modes
(available online on 13 February 2020, further notification will
follow). There will be ongoing upgrades to the system, such that certain
observing capabilities are not planned to be available continuously
during the full Long-Term period. The detailed suite of available
functionality will be advertised in each successive proposal call. 
Projects that do not qualify for Long-Term status may be proposed
successively for each semester cycle, provided that the appropriate
observing functionality has been advertised.
In contrast to the policy for the previous Long-Term period, follow-up
proposals concerning Long-Term science already reviewed may be submitted
in principle, so that the proposers can react to unforeseen technical
circumstances by requesting adjustments or supplements. It must be
stressed, however, that the Long-Term queue is planned to be fully
allocated in response to proposals at the upcoming deadline; any later
“adjustment proposals” must be based on strong and specific
argumentation related to specific unforeseen technical circumstances.
Proposers are strongly encouraged to seek timely advice in case of
questions regarding the eligibility for Long-Term status of their
intended project. Proposers can contact the Science Operations and
Support group through the JIRA helpdesk
( https://support.astron.nl/rohelpdesk) .

SINGLE-CYCLE PROPOSALS: In addition, this call more traditionally
covers all of the further observing time that will be available within
the single semester Cycle 14, 01 June – 30 November 2020. It is expected
that about 970 hours may be allocated, roughly evenly split into
priority A and B (explained below). The list of available Cycle 14
functionality, which is more extensive than that for Long-Term time,
will be available online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/observing-capabilities-lc14-17/availability-ob)
 on 13 February (further notification will follow).

WORLD-WIDE ACCESS: Time on the ILT is available to scientists from the
worldwide community. All of the Long-term time is allocated by the
ILT-PC through Open Skies rules and endorsed by the ILT Board, while the
single-cycle time is allocated in tandem between National Consortia and
the ILT-PC. Scientific excellence and breadth as well as the technical
strength of the proposals are taken along in the evaluations. The ILT-PC
will define restricted data access rights (default period 1 year) based
on the specific science goals and arguments in the proposal. Other
groups may be allocated simultaneous access for different science.

SUPPORT IS A LIMITED RESOURCE: Allocations to proposers will consist of
observing time, as described above and detailed availableonline
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/astronomers/requesting-observations-and-data/lofar-announcement-opportunities-earl)
 (available on 13 February, further notification will follow).
Henceforth, an online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/support-load-instructions/support-load-instruc)
 tool (available on 13 February, further notification will follow) will
show whether a proposal entails a low, medium, or high support load of
the observatory staff. During the allocation process, the ILT-PC will be
advised about the amounts of support effort requested and available, and
these will be used as boundary conditions for proposal allocations;
support will be treated as a scarce resource in the same way as has
become customary on LOFAR for processing and data storage resources. 
There will be advice available online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-lofar/observing-proposals/support-load-instructions/support-load-instruc)
 on 13 February (further notification will follow) on how proposers can
reduce the support load of their project by a prudent choice of
observing mode. The proposal may also indicate that certain support
functions will be carried out by members of the proposing team; in that
case, both the expertise and the work plan must be carefully argued in
the proposal. 
If a proposing group needs the data to be archived at a specific LTA
site, this should be explicitly requested and justified in the
proposal.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS: For all proposals, the technical case must
argue both the optimal and the minimal required total amount of time and
other resources (and any requirements on cadence or time span). If the
stated minimum time or other requirements cannot be allocated, the
proposal will not be carried out at all. When preparing the proposal,
please take into account proper ordering of the target list (seedetails
online
(
http://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/target-list-order/target-list-order)
), checking if any data is already available in the LOFAR Long Term
Archive
( https://lta.lofar.eu/)  and the possibility of Co-observing with the
Survey Key Science Project (see details online
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team/co-observing-surveys-ksp-team)
).

PRIORITY CLASSES: Due to ongoing upgrade work, system availability and
stability will vary with time. The ILT-PC will classify observing
allocations as A and/or B priority time. Allocations in A priority will
have a high likelihood to yield a successful observation in the period
concerned; in case such an observation suffers substantial failures, it
will be repeated (once) at a later date. Allocations in priority B will
likely be realized partially; they are carried out on a best-efforts
basis, where the total of all priority B allocations requires an
optimistic availability scenario. The priority B queue also allows some
flexibility to the ILT-PC in later cycles; it may consider the
scientific merits of advancing priority B time for some ongoing
Long-Term projects versus accommodating a higher fraction of newly
submitted single-cycle proposals.

OBTAINING ADVICE: In view of the novel and evolving character of the
ILT, proposers are strongly urged to get in contact with Science
Operations & Support at ASTRON through the JIRA helpdesk
( https://support.astron.nl/rohelpdesk)  well ahead of the deadline.
Novice groups may wish to seek or request to be connected to suitable
collaborators, and should also consider keeping the scope of initial
projects modest while they become familiar with the complexities of data
handling and analysis.

The Observatory will explore the possibility for a few users unfamiliar
with the reduction of LOFAR data to come to ASTRON for assistance with
this by Observatory personnel. If this is desired, it must be specified
in the proposal. Limited travel subsidies for eligible users can be
supported by RadioNet. Further details are given online
(
https://old.astron.nl/radio-observatory/observing-proposals/radionet-transnational-access-programme/radionet-transnational)
. 

R.C. Vermeulen 
Director, International LOFAR Telescope 

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