In Cycle 4, standard observing modes are those that have been used in previous Cycles and for which the data can be reduced by the pipeline. Please see Section 5.2 of the Cycle 4 Proposer's Guide.
Non-standard modes are observing modes that are less well characterized, or for which the data need to be processed by ALMA staff. According to Section 5.1 of the Cycle 4 Proposer's Guide, a maximum 20% of the total observing time will be assigned to such projects.
Non-standard mode observations will be conducted on a best-effort basis, while standard modes will no longer be subject to such limitations. ALMA has entered into a phase where PI-science observations dominate activities while continued improvements and developments are also explored.
- Bands 8, 9 & 10 observations
- Band 7 observations with maximum baselines > 5.3km
- Polarization
- Spectral Scans
- Bandwidth switching projects (less than 1GHz aggregate bandwidths over all spectral windows)
- Solar Observations
- VLBI observations
- Non-standard calibrations (User-defined calibrations selected int he OT)