MWA ASVO: Frequently Asked Questions

Owned by Greg Sleap
Last updated: Nov 29, 2023
3 min read

We have collected as many frequently asked questions (FAQ) as we can to help you get the most out of the MWA ASVO data portal!

Where do I go for help?

Check out our page, but first maybe check this FAQ or checkout our guide first!

The observations I want to download are greyed out/can’t be selected

The MWA Data Access Policy ensures that all data observed in the last 18 months is available only to members of MWA Collaboration. After the proprietary/embargo period has ended, that observation is available to download for all users. For all other users, the observations within the proprietary period will not be selectable via the web user interface for download (and submitting a job via will result in an error message stating the data is under embargo).

I know I am an MWA member, but I still cannot download an observation due to embargo/proprietary period!

The most likely case is that we have not tagged your MWA ASVO user account as having MWA membership. Please email asvo_support@mwatelescope.org and we will confirm you are a member and fix your account up!

I am not an MWA member, but my principal investigator (PI) is and I want to access the raw data for their project which is still under embargo. How can I do this?

Ask your PI to email asvo_support@mwatelescope.org, providing your details and the project code you wish to be able to access, and we will grant you access to that particular project code.

I use Pawsey supercomputers and I want MWA ASVO to deliver my downloads directly to the filesystem (e.g. /scratch). How can I enable this feature?

MWA ASVO is capable to delivering data to /astro (mounted on Garrawarla) or /scratch (mounted on Garrawarla and Setonix) instead of providing a download link. If you process MWA data on Pawsey supercomputers this can provide a significant time saving as there is no need to download the data over the network, instead it is delivered to the place where you will likely be processing it- but there are a few things you need to do first!

  1. You will need to already have a Pawsey user account

  2. Your Pawsey user account must be added to one of the MWA-wide Pawsey groups (see )

  3. Once the above two steps are completed, ask the Pawsey group PI to email asvo_support@mwatelescope.org and ask to have your MWA ASVO account linked to the Pawsey group (e.g. mwaeor, mwasci, mwavcs, mwaops).

  4. NOTE: if you are requesting mwavcs as the group, to download VCS / voltage data, we will request more information from you, and seek approval from the MWA Director- e.g. what data you are going to download and a very short brief of the work you are doing. This is because of the significant load VCS jobs put on the Pawsey and MWA ASVO systems, as well as the large amount of storage required for even a single VCS download.

Once you log out and log back in to MWA ASVO, you will notice that you now have extra options in the “Delivery” drop down, allowing you to have MWA ASVO deliver your data directly to your chosen filesystem. The destination will be on the chosen filesystem (/astro or /scratch) in the group subdirectory (mwaeor OR mwasci OR mwavcs OR mwaops) and then in a subdirectory which is your MWA ASVO Job ID. E.g. /astro/mwaops/123456

Unlike Acacia downloads, there is no expiration on the data, so it is your responsibility to remove/delete the data if you opt for it to be delivered to /astro or /scratch. Also be aware that /astro and /scratch do have purge policies so make sure you do something with the data (e.g. store longer term in Acacia) if you want to keep it longer than the purge policy period. And although you could leave the data until the purge policy cleans it up for you, it is more considerate to other users of the filesystem if you remove your data once you no longer need it- disk space is always at a premium!

I want to download VCS / voltage data. How can I do this?

VCS data are so large that we do not provide a direct download via the MWA ASVO. Instead we require that you get the system to deliver the data to one of the supported filesystems (/astro or /scratch) instead. For more info on how to get access to VCS / voltage data, please see the answer to the question above.