As the VLA observes, the data get written to nine track tape.
After 8 hours or so (depending on the data rate) this tape will be
full. A copy of the nine track tape is made to exabyte format and
sent down to the AOC in Socorro. Within a few days this exabyte
tape (with label DN) is combined with about 1 week's worth of data
to nearly fill an archive tape (label XH) which is stored in the
tape vault at the AOC. For about 2 months the exabyte transfer (DN)
tape is also available in the tape vault. Either of these tapes
may be checked out by visitors or local observers seeking to load
their data. If you (or your advisor, for graduate students) were
not listed on the original proposal, you must first obtain
permission from Barry Clark
(bclark@nrao.edu)
or Jim Ulvestad
(julvesta@nrao.edu)
before requesting the data. Please see the
NRAO Data Archive Policy
for more details.
Outside users can request that their VLA data be loaded for them
by the analysts using
this VLA Data Request form.
Note that unlike the current policy for the VLBA, VLA data is not
automatically shipped to observers, but must be requested.
We are in the process of loading the entire VLA archive onto
disk and making it accessible on-line. Currently the past two
years have been loaded and we are in the process of testing and
debugging the software to access the on-line archive data.
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