ALMA is introducing distributed peer review in Cycle 8 2021. To optimize the success of this review method, all PIs are invited to update their "Expertise" on the ALMA Science Portal. This information will be used to best match propsals with their referees.

The European ALMA Regional Centre invites all European ALMA users to a virtual community assembly on 19 March at 12:30 CET. At this community meeting, we will update you on the current and upcoming observing cycle and address FAQs on how PI science will be carried out. Also we can answer any questions you may have on your ALMA projects and support from the European ARC network. The meeting can be accessed at this link.

ALMA anticipates restarting limited science operations in March 2021 with at least thirty-two and eight antennas on the 12-m and 7-m arrays, respectively. The array configuration is planned to be C43-4/C43-5, which will roughly correspond to the array when the operations were suspended in March 2020. 

The Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy (CARTA), a new image visualization and analysis tool designed for ALMA, VLA, and SKA pathfinders, has been integrated into the ALMA Science Archive (ASA). Now all 500,000+ science FITS files in the ALMA archive can be previewed using CARTA (Cycle 0 excluded).

The I-TRAIN session in May will serve as a tutorial on self-calibration of ALMA data. The session will be held online on Tuesday May 25, 2021, 11:00 CEST [Zoom link]. In this session you will learn how to self-calibrate your interferometric images to improve their image fidelity. In particular, you will learn criteria to decide whether to self-calibrate, what preparation is needed, how to choose parameter values - and when to stop - and thus, how to improve the image dynamic range and bring faint details out of the noise.

The German ARC node offers hands-on training in the reduction and analysis of ALMA data in their online Master-level course "Radio Interferometry 2021" which runs from April to July 2021. More information can be found here. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic persists all around the world, ALMA staff at the JAO and in the regions continue to work towards bringing the array back online, with the ultimate goal to resume science operations and deliver high-quality science data to our users. At this moment, the ALMA antennas are in the process of being powered up and inspected after having been stowed for about 300 days. 

The European ARC CalMS service provides Calibrated Measurement Sets (MSs) for ALMA archive data for all users who request them. All European users are encouraged to make use of this service that has succesfully provided more than 500 MSs since October 2019.