[mmaimcal] FYI: 27 March 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

Mon Apr 3 11:07:24 EDT 2006

                     BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                          27 March 2006 -- 10 April 2006 

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT****************************
On 2 March, at the US House Committee on Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, 
and Related Agencies there was a hearing on the NSF budget, at which there
was testimony from Arden Bement, Director and Dr. Warren Washington, 
Chairman, National Science Board. 

 On March 2, NSF Director Arden Bement testified in a public hearing  
before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State,  
Justice and Commerce on the NSF budget request for FY 2007.  Rep.  
Culberson (R-TX), referring to a recent piece about ALMA in Nature  
Magazine, asked Dr. Bement about the status of ALMA.

Dr. Bement called ALMA "very transformational".  He noted the  
increased costs associated with ALMA, referring to a number of  
factors including:   increasing commodity prices, changes in the  
Chilean economy, and the difficulty in anticipating the myriad of  
issues that arise with individual international partners.  Dr. Bement  
went on to talk about the re-scoping of ALMA to 50 telescopes, a  
stepped up monthly reporting process, detailed reviews every 6 months  
and a variety of other NSF management actions taken to address the  
increasing cost of ALMA.  Dr. Bement suggested that the cost increase  
could be between 30 and 40% by the time all the dust settles.

When Rep. Culberson asked whether this cost increase could adversely  
affect other future astronomy projects, Dr. Bement pointed out that  
increasing commodity prices for steel and other materials, being  
driven in part by growth in the economies of China and India, was the  
major issue and it could impact not just telescopes but other major  
research projects such as ones currently being funded by NSF  
including an arctic research vessel, the ocean drilling ship and  
other current and future projects funded by NSF.
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The AMAC and the ALMA Board both met in Kyoto.  Thijs de Graauw
presented a summary of findings and recommendations from the 20-21
March meeting to the ALMA Board late on 21 March.  The ALMA Board
concurred in the appointment of Ian Robson as a European member of AMAC.

The Board as constituted for this meeting had some changes.
J. Sunley, of NSF, attended the meeting as an alternate for R. Dickman,
who could not attend.  R. Wade functioned as Chair for this meeting, with
A. Sargent functioning as Vice Chair.  E. van Dishoeck, who has replaced
P. van der Kruit on the Board attended her first face-to-face meeting.
Roy Booth attended but in his new role as Assessor.  Agreed to consider 
a request by NAOJ that a Taiwanese observer be invited to subsequent 
Board meetings, and reply in time for the April telecon.  

The Board noted the Executive's decision to enlarge the Director's 
Council to include the Director-General of NAOJ.  The Board expressed 
its deepest gratitude to N. Kaifu for his service on the ALMA Board 
and for his vision of how the ALMA-J program makes ALMA a truly 
global international collaboration.

The Board approves selection of the ESO's Vitacura site as the location 
for the ALMA Headquarters building in Santiago.  The Board
thanked the ASAC for its response to charges given it, delivered by Chris
Wilson, and it concurred in the appointment of John Richer as the next 
ASAC Chair (Lee Mundy is the new Vice Chair).
The Board also approved the following revised standard ALMA description 
to be effective July 1, 2006:  
"The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international 
astronomy facility, is a partnership between Europe, Japan and North 
America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.  ALMA is funded in 
Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in Japan by the National 
Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) in cooperation with the Academia 
Sinica in Taiwan and in North America by the U.S. National Science 
Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of 
Canada (NRC).   ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of 
Europe by ESO, on behalf of Japan by the National Astronomical Observatory 
of Japan (NAOJ) and on behalf of North America by the National Radio 
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated 
Universities, Inc. (AUI)."
Board members expressed their deepest gratitude and appreciation of 
Bob Dickman's contribution to the ALMA project.

The ASAC Report may be viewed at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/committees/ASAC/asacreport_2006jan.pdf
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Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at:
http://www.alma.cl/alma_project
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General Happenings
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): The Vertex site is levelled
and awaits Vertex occupancy.  There are approximately 134 persons on the
ALMA site, 65 of them workers at the AOS site.

AOS (Array Ops Site, 16000ft altitude): The AOS Technical Building
Foundation and Shell is near completion.  The ALMA Board approved the
finish work, which awaits NSF approval.

TUC: An ALMA Band 6 (1.3mm) mixer was successfully tested on the SMT
on Mt. Graham.

AOC: Various problems in the DTS and DTS systems are under investigation.
The group will finish end-to-end LO phase drift tests.  The move from
the lab to the ATF is envisaged to occur in August.

ATF (ALMA Test Facility, VLA site): Control Software upgrade installation 
specific for the AEM antenna had been delayed for a week when ACU/drive 
problems at the antenna prevented checking out the COMP IPT software.  
The problem was traced to a failed servo amplifier; the amplifier was 
replaced.  Software upgrade was then largely completed.
LO & DTS problems mentioned above will be addressed.  This week, the
computing IPT will continue testing control software at the ATF.
AEM staff will visit the ATF starting in mid April to work on the 
antenna metrology system.

NAASC (North American ALMA Science Center:  Many members were involved in
software tests in Socorro.
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
 Sun  26 Mar Change to Summer Time, Europe
 Mon  27 Mar
 Tue  28 Mar
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
 Wed  29 Mar
Total Solar Eclipse, parts of Africa, Europe and Asia
3:30 pm:  Astrochemistry Group Meeting, U. Va.
 Thu  30 Mar
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: Management IPT Telecon
 Fri  31 Mar 
11:45 AM: Update on ALMA Lo System by B. Shillue, NTC Penthouse
 Sat  1 Apr  
 Sun  2 Apr Change to Daylight Savings Time, most parts of NA.
 Mon  3 Apr
 Tue  4 Apr
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
                 NA IPT Leads Telecon
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested 
                                 parties) (434)296-7082
 Wed  5 Apr
11:00 EDT ASAC Telecon
 1:30 EDT NAASC Telecon
 Thu  6 Apr
 Fri  7 Apr 
 Sat  8 Apr
 Sun  9 Apr 
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
 April 5         1500 UT         ASAC Telecon
 April 5         1:30 EST        NAASC Telecon
 April 24-25     All day         SRR followup meeting   Garching
 April 27                        ALMA Board Telecon
 April 28        1900 UT         ANASAC Telecon
 June 13-14    	 all day 	 ALMA Board Meeting 	OSF
 Sept 22-23      evening         Dave Matthews Band     CV JPJ Arena opening
 November 9-10 	 all day 	 ALMA Board Meeting 	Madrid 	TBD
 Nov 13-16    all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ****************************
ALMA Memo #541: Horizontal Temperature variations at Chajnantor
by: Alison Stirling, Angel Otarola, Roberto Rivera, Juan Bravo

Abstract:
In August 2005 an observing campaign was conducted to measure the 
horizontal variability in the temperature profile above the Chajnantor 
site. The temperature profile is known to affect pointing and phase 
corrections, as well as amplitude calibrations, and so knowledge of the 
likely variation in temperature is essential for planning ancillary 
meteorological equipment for the site.

The campaign concentrated on analysing the atmosphere in two locations 
of the extended array configuration. In these two sites, radiosonde 
balloons were launched at regular intervals and high frequency surface 
measurements were taken using a meteorological mast. The results of the 
study have shown that the temperature profile in the first 100m above 
the ground is strongly controlled by surface heating and cooling, and 
that variation in the altitude of the terrain can introduce horizontal 
temperature variations of up to 5 K over the site.

We have analysed the likely impact of these temperature variations on 
pointing and phase corrections, looking at the errors introduced by 
assuming that the temperature profile from one location can be used to 
estimate the pointing and phase corrections at the second location. We 
find that pointing errors introduced by using a temperature profile from 
a different part of the Chajnantor site are of order 0.3" at an elevation 
of 60 degrees. Path errors introduced as a result of using the distant 
temperature profile are of order 2%. These errors are similar in magnitude 
if an idealised temperature profile is used, in which a constant lapse 
rate is assumed, in conjunction with the measured surface temperature 
at that location.

In addition we have measured the parameters required for future atmospheric 
modelling studies of the site, for example the net radiation (incoming minus 
outgoing, shortwave and longwave) in August peaks at 460-495 W m at midday, 
and the surface albedo is 0.6. The surface sensible and latent heat 
fluxes peak at ~ 300 W m^-2 40 W m^-2, respectively, and the roughness 
length is measured to be ~1 cm. In the presence of antennas, this is 
expected to increase to 10 cm in the extended configuration, and 160 cm 
in the compact configuration, increasing the mechanically induced 
turbulence at the site. 

View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #541 at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma541/memo541.pdf
******************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
CONGRATULATIONS!!! To our friends at CARMA, who achieved fringes with
15 antennas on Saturday.  
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Post Doctoral Research Associate Studies of high-mass star formation
Salary up to £26,401 per annum (Ref: EPS/108/06)

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY JODRELL BANK OBSERVATORY

A postdoctoral position is available to work on a new VLA high resolution 
radio continuum survey of the Galactic Plane. This Large VLA Project has 
been awarded ~400 hours of observing time and will begin in June 2006; it 
will cover the same area as the northern GLIMPSE survey made by the 
SPITZER satellite. The postdoctoral fellow will take charge of the 
observations, reduction and exploitation of the survey, aimed principally 
at the study of high-mass star formation. Collaboration with other members 
of the international team is envisaged.

The position is available immediately for a period of two years in the 
first instance, with the possibility of extension beyond this date.  The 
appointment will be as a Research Associate, with a starting salary in the 
range of £24,886 to £26,401 per annum.

Application forms and further particulars are available at 
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/vacancies or from EPS HR Office, The 
University of Manchester, Sackville Street Building, Manchester M60 1QD, 
Tel: 0161 275 8837; Fax: 0161 306 5037 or email: eps-hr at manchester.ac.uk.

Quote ref:  EPS/108/06

Closing date: Monday 1 May 2006

Informal inquiries may be made to Philip Diamond, tel: 01477 571321, 
email pdiamond at jb.man.ac.uk
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                2nd pan-ALMA Conference : 2nd Announcement

Dear Colleague,

The 2nd pan-ALMA conference on "Science with ALMA: a new era for  
Astrophysics" will be held 13-16 November 2006 in Madrid, Spain. The 
venue will be the campus of the CSIC (Consejo Superior de 
Investigaciones Cientificas), in the centre of town. 

Information on the 2nd pan-ALMA meeting is available via

       http://www.oan.es/alma2006/   (final slash is mandatory)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
ALMA presentations at the January Zmachine meeting are available on line 
through links at www.zmachines.net
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Anne Dutrey informs us of a CNRS post-doctoral position at the Observatory of 
Bordeaux. The position is opened for two years and will start on september 
2006 at the Observatory of Bordeaux. The application deadline is June 2006. 

The position is dedicated to the modelling of chemistry in proto-planetary 
disks in order to interpret observational data obtained with the IRAM array.  

Interested people can read the dedicated CNRS web page 
http://www.k-projects.com/cnrs_postdocs/public/departement_details.php?IdDpt=9&Dep=SDU&NumOffre=2&Langue=en
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Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the
preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail
(jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu).

The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by
e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested. 
A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing 
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Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html