Below is a small help section, for more help on this web service see the LOFAR wiki

FAQ

How to obtain an user account for the LTA?

An user account is obtained in two steps:
1. If you don't have a 'LOFAR MoM' account yet go to https://lofar.astron.nl/useradministration/user/setUpUserAccountOverview.do and register as a new user.
2. Once you have obtained an account, contact Science Data Center Operations using its helpdesk asking for LTA privileges.

How to login ?

Click on the LOGIN button on the right-hand top of the screen and fill in your credentials.

How to set a project?

Choose BROWSE PROJECTS from the main menu. By default the projects from the current cycle are shown but other cycles can be chosen from the left-hand menu. Locate your project of interest and use the SET button at the end of the line. Alternatively also the SEARCH and SHOW DATA buttons can be used which provide shortcuts to setting a project and jumping to either the search or the show data page directly. The selected project is clearly shown in orange in the main menu bar.

How to unset a project?

Click on the orange button in main menu bar that shows the selected project name. A drop-down menu will appear. Choose 'Unset' and the orange button should disappear.

How to find your data?

Choose SEARCH DATA from the main menu. In the left-hand menu that then appears you can either choose the Basic Search or one of the advanced search forms. If you want to restrict your searches to a particular project, then set a project first as described above. Once you have set a project you can also choose to view all data for that project by clicking on the orange button in the maim menu bar (showing the project name) and selecting 'Show data'.

How to download your data?

When you have found some data products, check the checkboxes in the first column in front of the data products in the table. Then choose 'stage selected' from the table header. Please note that you need to be logged in to be able to download any data. Also for proprietary, non-public data you need the proper privileges. Check the documentation on the Lofar Wiki for more details.

Lofar Archive Help

The main menu at the top of the page consists of the following options:

  • HOME - The start page
  • SEARCH DATA - The search page, giving access to a basic and various advanced search forms
  • BROWSE PROJECTS - View the list of all projects available in the LTA. From the list a project can be selected to restrict searches to that project only.
  • HELP - These help pages

On the search page the archive can be queried for a combination of attributes. When you hover your mouse over the attribute name, a brief description will be shown in a tooltip. The possible query attributes depend on the type of product (observation and pipelines) chosen.

If you are authorized you can request to stage files by selecting the checkboxes in the first column next to a data product and click "stage selected". If you are not authorized, a red cross will be shown instead. If there is no data file in the archive for the data product, nothing will be shown in the first column.

Advanced users can use the dbview web service at https://lta-dbview.lofar.eu.

For any questions please use the SDC helpdesk.