Large Programs - [2013A-2016B] Campaign


Deadline for submission: February 28, 2012 - 23:59 UTC


The context

After the success of the CFHT Legacy Survey (CFHTLS), two consecutive Large Programs campaigns covering [2008B-2012B] led to the selection of six Large Programs, two on each of CFHT's main instruments: MegaCam, WIRCam, and ESPaDOnS. A brief description as well as links to their own web sites are available here.

With the end of the [2008B-2012B] campaign approaching, CFHT is now opening the period [2013A-2016] to proposals for Large Programs (LPs) on MegaCam, WIRCam and ESPaDOnS. During this call for 2013-2016 proposals, selected LPs will share up to 40% of the observing time available to the participating Agencies or partner communitiees. Canada and France have already commited to their participation in this new LP campaign..

Depending on the size and duration of the selected LPs, the availability of new instruments, and the evolution of the pressure on telescope time from regular observing programs, a new call could be issued at some point in the 2014-2016 period (likely to cover [2015A-2016B]).


What is a Large Program?

A Large Program must request at least 200 hours of observing time on MegaCam, WIRCam or ESPaDOnS, which can be out on one or more instruments (like a combined visible and infrared imaging program using MegaCam and WIRCam). The observing time can be spread evenly over all semesters in 2013A to 2016B, or be requested for fewer (specified) semesters. The more spread the time allocation, the likely more robust the program is to weather loss.


Which criteria will be used in the selection process?

When full proposals are reviewed, the selection committee will consider the scientific merit of the program and the feasibility of the observations at CFHT. The capability of the team to handle the data reduction process to achieve the scientific goals will be essential to the selection of a proposed LP. The acquisition of needed calibration data should be an integral part of the original LP allocation, as getting additional awards for this kind of data collection has been shown to be difficult historically.

Other factors will be taken into account in the selection process and need to be addressed in the proposal: the risks associated with incomplete data collection, potentially linked to overloading an instrument or requesting too large a fraction of observing conditions, the willingness of the LP team to provide immediate access to the CFHT community, the interest of the data beyond the main scientific goals of the LP, the potential legacy value of the data acquired, and the inter-Agency nature of the LP team.

Proposing teams should seek the advice of CFHT on the evaluation of risk.


Selection process schedule of events

  • February 28, 2012, 24:00UTC - Deadline for the proposal submission. CFHT will review the proposals and prepare a technical evaluation.
  • April 2012 - National TACs will be given a chance to provide the Committee with comments on the proposals.
  • Early May 2012 - Based on the criteria given above, LP proposals will be reviewed and ranked by the LP Agency Review Committee (LPARC), which will be formed in early 2012 and report to SAC.
  • Mid-May 2012 - At its May meeting, SAC will review the LPARC report and recommend a set of LPs to the Agencies involved.


    • 2013A Semester

    The Large Program allocations will be known at the time of 2013A call for proposals. This information will allow:
  • the teams of unsuccessful LP proposals to apply for regular time in 13A, and
  • PIs of regular 13A proposals to take into account potential conflicts with some of the LPs (pressure on RA, time constraints, ...)


    • Proposal submissions

    Proposals should be submitted before the deadline(!) in electronic form (pdf file) by email addressed to
    director "at" cfht.hawaii.edu

    The format of the proposals will be as following:

  • Cover Page - 1 page (see form here - pdf)
  • Scientific Justification - 5 pages + 2 pages of figures and references
  • Technical Justification - 3 pages
  • Observing Strategy - in the form of a standard table (see sample here - pdf)
  • Data Management plan - including real-time analysis requirements, a data-analysis plan and a description of available resources - 1 page


    • Proprietary Periods

    - Participating community access:

  • The default is that all members of a participating community to a LP (i.e. allocating observing time to the LP) will have immediate access to the data through the CADC.
  • The PI may propose to retain the usual one year proprietary period for participating community access (or any other period not to exceed one year from the time the last data is acquired, as is the case for any PI program).

    • - World Access:

  • The default is the standard one year proprietary period after the end of each semester for the duration of the LP.
  • The PI may request, with justification, that world-access be denied for an extended period not to exceed one year after the last data in the LP is acquired.


    • Multi-Agency Proposals:

    If you intend to submit a joint proposal between two or more Agencies or partner communities, you are required to distribute the total amount of hours requested among the participants. This distribution should be made according to the relative scientific contribution from each community in your collaborative team. In other words, it is up to you as PI to assess this distribution. You will find on the summary form a section "Hours per agency" where this distribution has to be made. The National TACs of any named community will be given that proposal and asked to comment on scientific value and confirm their willingness to contribute time to the Large Program agency.


    Implementation procedures:

    You will find the the [2013-2016] Large Program Implementation Procedures here (pdf).