LOFAR ERIC coordinates the development and efficient operation of LOFAR (the LOw Frequency ARray), a vital radio astronomy instrument for world-class scientific research with cohesively operated facilities located in several countries.
LOFAR is preparing the upgrade to the LOFAR2.0 system, which will offer simultaneous low- and high-band observing, increased field-of-view, and various other improvements to the sensitivity and operation of the telescope. The new system will generate considerably more data than the current one. The need for processing and storage of this data represents a significant challenge, as it outstrips current affordable solutions. To realize the goals of the new Observatory, the ILT board has approved a data life cycle that optimises science data processing capacity and efficiency with respect to affordable data storage. This includes data retirement. The ILT anticipates that (final) science data products, generated through standard pipelines (such as image cubes) can be kept available indefinitely (under open access policies), but that raw/intermediate products may only be retained for further processing within a restricted dwell time.
To prepare the ILT infrastructure for the LOFAR2.0 data challenges, a first step needs to be taken now that involves the retirement of early Cycle data from the LOFAR Long-Term Archive (LTA). After careful analysis, it has been concluded that data from Cycle 0 up to and including Cycle 6 is either low in metadata quality or already valorized and published (https://science.astron.nl/telescopes/lofar/science-with-lofar/lofar-papers/) or, based on the download statistics, of little demonstrable interest to the current community. The ILT has therefore approved that mid-2024 this data will be deleted from all LTA sites.
Through this notification, we give the opportunity to any users (i.e. not only the projects’ PI’s) who may need to retrieve data from these early LOFAR Cycles, to signal this to the Observatory to coordinate the data download. The requests will be evaluated by the Observatory for technical feasibility and reviewed by the ILT-board for approval. We emphasize that all data concerned is public data.
This excel overview lists all the data that will be retired mid-2024.
The spreadsheet contains two tabs:
Note that data sizes in the spreadsheet have byte level accuracy but are shown with one decimal accuracy.
More information about the data products can be obtained by querying the LOFAR LTA here. The LTA portal provides documentation on how to use the query service.
If you encounter issues in opening the spreadsheet on your system, please get in contact with us through the SDC Helpdesk.
If you need to download some of the data targeted for retirement, we request you to adhere to the guidelines given below.
To avoid excessive load of the data access services at the LTA sites, the Observatory needs to be informed of your data download plans and needs to evaluate them in relation to data access requirements for other users and purposes. For this, we ask you to submit a formal request for data download by using the Google form linked below. You will be asked to answer questions about the data you wish to retrieve, their size at the various LTA sites, and your data management plan.
https://forms.gle/n8i25WfrDXAxq7U19
The deadline for submitting your request is Friday, 1 December, 12 UT (noon).
All the requests will be evaluated by the Observatory for technical feasibility and will be presented to the ILT-board for their approval and to evaluate whether specific actions are needed. Observatory personnel will notify you of the outcome of your request as soon as possible after this, along with instructions on when and how to initiate the data transfers. Instructions may include recommendations on how efficient data transfers can be achieved given the size and location of the data in relation to the destination(s) indicated in the provided data access plan.
If you have any questions about the above, do not hesitate to contact us through the SDC Helpdesk.
The LOFAR ERIC Council has appointed Dr. Michiel van Haarlem as the new Executive Director of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), established by the European Commission in December 2023.
On December 20, 2023 the European Union officially established the LOFAR ERIC: a European Research Consortium Infrastructure. The activities of the Dutch International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) foundation are now continued by the European LOFAR ERIC.
To celebrate this milestone, delegates of all ten participating countries came to the Netherlands, the hosting country of the LOFAR ERIC and location of the LOFAR core.
The LOFAR Family meeting 2024 will take place from 3 - 7 June 2024 in Leiden. It is hosted by Leiden Observatory, the astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Rudolph Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world.
The Low Frequency Array European Research Infrastructure Consortium (LOFAR ERIC) is looking for a new executive director, who will play a pivotal role in representing LOFAR ERIC to all relevant stakeholders and ensure the efficient joint operation of the LOFAR facilities.
We write to follow the announcement you have received from René Vermeulen describing his imminent extended leave, starting on 1 March.
We take this first opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for René in leading LOFAR to its current heights. René’s painstaking work has enabled LOFAR to build from a nascent Dutch facility into an ever-growing and strong European collaboration of members, now numbering 10 countries.
LOFAR ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) has been officially launched at its first Council meeting today. The world-leading LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray) Distributed Research Infrastructure has already revolutionised low-frequency radio astronomy research, resulting in an avalanche of scientific publications in the past decade. LOFAR ERIC is now a single legal entity across the European Union.
