Summarizing MeasurementSets

The MeasurementSet is the way CASA stores visibility data (the MS definition can be found in the Reference Material section).  This page describes theree tasks to gain access to information stored in the MS: listobs displays observational details such as spatial (field), spectral (spectral window), temporal (scans), and polarization setup of an MS; listpartition provides information on how a MS was subdivided by the partition task (used for parallelized processing); listvis prints out the visibility values themselves. 

 

Summarizing your MS (listobs)

An observational summary of the MS contents can be displayed with the listobs task. The inputs are:

vis                 = 'day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx' #  Name of input visibility file (MS)
selectdata          =       True        #  Data selection parameters
     field          =         ''        #  Field names or field index
                                        #  numbers: '' ==>all, field='0~2,3C286'
     spw            =         ''        #  spectral-window/frequency/channel
     antenna        =         ''        #  antenna/baselines: ''==>all, antenna ='3,VA04'
     timerange      =         ''        #  time range: ''==>all,timerange='09:14:0~09:54:0'
     correlation    =         ''        #  Select data based on correlation
     scan           =         ''        #  scan numbers: ''==>all
     intent         =         ''        #  Select data based on observation intent: ''==>all
     feed           =         ''        #  multi-feed numbers: Not yet implemented
     array          =         ''        #  (sub)array numbers: ''==>all
     uvrange        =         ''        #  uv range: ''==>all; uvrange
                                        #  ='0~100klambda', default units=meters
     observation    =         ''        #  Select data based on observation ID: ''==>all

verbose             =       True        
listfile            =         ''        #  Name of disk file to write output: ''==>to terminal
listunfl            =      False        #  List unflagged row counts?
                                        #  If true, it can have significant negative performance
                                        #  impact

The summary (of the selected data) will be written to the logger, to the casapy-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log file, and optionally to a file specified in the listfile parameter. For example,

listobs('n5921.ms')

results in a logger message like the following (also the format if a 'listfile' text file is requested):

listobs(vis="day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx",selectdata=True,spw="",field="",
        antenna="",uvrange="",timerange="",correlation="",scan="",
        intent="",feed="",array="",observation="",verbose=True,
        listfile="",listunfl=False)
================================================================================
           MeasurementSet Name:  /Users/jott/casa/casatest/casa4.0/irc/day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx      MS Version 2
================================================================================
   Observer: Mark J. Mark Claussen     Project: T.B.D.  
Observation: EVLA
Data records: 290218       Total integration time = 10016 seconds
   Observed from   26-Apr-2010/03:21:56.0   to   26-Apr-2010/06:08:52.0 (UTC)
   
   ObservationID = 0         ArrayID = 0
  Date        Timerange (UTC)          Scan  FldId FieldName             nRows     SpwIds   Average Interval(s)    ScanIntent
  26-Apr-2010/03:21:51.0 - 03:23:21.0     5      2 J0954+1743                2720  [0, 1]  [10, 10]
              03:23:39.0 - 03:28:25.0     6      3 IRC+10216                 9918  [0, 1]  [10, 10]
              03:28:38.0 - 03:29:54.0     7      2 J0954+1743                2700  [0, 1]  [10, 10]
              03:30:08.0 - 03:34:53.5     8      3 IRC+10216                 9918  [0, 1]  [10, 10]
...
           (nRows = Total number of rows per scan)
Fields: 4
  ID   Code Name                RA               Decl           Epoch   SrcId      nRows
  2    D    J0954+1743          09:54:56.823626 +17.43.31.22243 J2000   2          65326
  3    NONE IRC+10216           09:47:57.382000 +13.16.40.65999 J2000   3         208242
  5    F    J1229+0203          12:29:06.699729 +02.03.08.59820 J2000   5          10836
  7    E    J1331+3030          13:31:08.287984 +30.30.32.95886 J2000   7           5814
Spectral Windows:  (2 unique spectral windows and 1 unique polarization setups)
  SpwID  Name      #Chans   Frame   Ch1(MHz)  ChanWid(kHz)  TotBW(kHz)  Corrs          
  0      Subband:0     64   TOPO   36387.229       125.000      8000.0  RR  RL  LR  LL
  1      Subband:0     64   TOPO   36304.542       125.000      8000.0  RR  RL  LR  LL
Sources: 10
  ID   Name                SpwId RestFreq(MHz)  SysVel(km/s)
  0    J1008+0730          0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  0    J1008+0730          1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  2    J0954+1743          0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  2    J0954+1743          1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  3    IRC+10216           0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  3    IRC+10216           1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  5    J1229+0203          0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  5    J1229+0203          1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  7    J1331+3030          0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  7    J1331+3030          1     0.03639232     -0.026       
Antennas: 19:
  ID   Name  Station   Diam.    Long.         Lat.                Offset from array center (m)                ITRF Geocentric coordinates (m)        
                                                                     East         North     Elevation               x               y               z
  0    ea01  W09       25.0 m   -107.37.25.2  +33.53.51.0       -521.9407     -332.7782       -1.1977 -1601710.017000 -5042006.928200  3554602.355600
  1    ea02  E02       25.0 m   -107.37.04.4  +33.54.01.1          9.8247      -20.4292       -2.7808 -1601150.059500 -5042000.619800  3554860.729400
  2    ea03  E09       25.0 m   -107.36.45.1  +33.53.53.6        506.0591     -251.8666       -3.5832 -1600715.948000 -5042273.187000  3554668.184500
  3    ea04  W01       25.0 m   -107.37.05.9  +33.54.00.5        -27.3562      -41.3030       -2.7418 -1601189.030140 -5042000.493300  3554843.425700
  4    ea05  W08       25.0 m   -107.37.21.6  +33.53.53.0       -432.1158     -272.1493       -1.5032 -1601614.091000 -5042001.655700  3554652.509300
  5    ea07  N06       25.0 m   -107.37.06.9  +33.54.10.3        -54.0667      263.8720       -4.2292 -1601162.593200 -5041829.000000  3555095.890500
  6    ea08  N01       25.0 m   -107.37.06.0  +33.54.01.8        -30.8810       -1.4664       -2.8597 -1601185.634945 -5041978.156586  3554876.424700
  7    ea09  E06       25.0 m   -107.36.55.6  +33.53.57.7        236.9058     -126.3369       -2.4443 -1600951.588000 -5042125.911000  3554773.012300
  8    ea12  E08       25.0 m   -107.36.48.9  +33.53.55.1        407.8394     -206.0057       -3.2252 -1600801.916000 -5042219.371000  3554706.449900
  9    ea15  W06       25.0 m   -107.37.15.6  +33.53.56.4       -275.8288     -166.7451       -2.0590 -1601447.198000 -5041992.502500  3554739.687600
  10   ea19  W04       25.0 m   -107.37.10.8  +33.53.59.1       -152.8599      -83.8054       -2.4614 -1601315.893000 -5041985.320170  3554808.304600
  11   ea20  N05       25.0 m   -107.37.06.7  +33.54.08.0        -47.8454      192.6015       -3.8723 -1601168.786100 -5041869.054000  3555036.936000
  12   ea21  E01       25.0 m   -107.37.05.7  +33.53.59.2        -23.8638      -81.1510       -2.5851 -1601192.467800 -5042022.856800  3554810.438800
  13   ea22  N04       25.0 m   -107.37.06.5  +33.54.06.1        -42.5986      132.8623       -3.5431 -1601173.953700 -5041902.660400  3554987.536500
  14   ea23  E07       25.0 m   -107.36.52.4  +33.53.56.5        318.0523     -164.1848       -2.6960 -1600880.570000 -5042170.388000  3554741.457400
  15   ea24  W05       25.0 m   -107.37.13.0  +33.53.57.8       -210.0944     -122.3885       -2.2581 -1601377.008000 -5041988.665500  3554776.393400
  16   ea25  N02       25.0 m   -107.37.06.2  +33.54.03.5        -35.6245       53.1806       -3.1345 -1601180.861480 -5041947.453400  3554921.628700
  17   ea27  E03       25.0 m   -107.37.02.8  +33.54.00.5         50.6647      -39.4832       -2.7249 -1601114.365500 -5042023.153700  3554844.945600
  18   ea28  N08       25.0 m   -107.37.07.5  +33.54.15.8        -68.9057      433.1889       -5.0602 -1601147.940400 -5041733.837000  3555235.956000

listobs shows information on the project itself like project code, observer and telescope, followed by the sequence of scans with start/stop times, integration times, and scan intents, a list of all fields with name and coordinates, available spectral windows and their shapes, a list of sources (field/spw combination), and finally the location of all antennas that are used in the observation. A row is an MS entry for a given time stamp and baseline (rows can be accessed e.g. via browsetable). 

verbose=False would not show the complete list, in particular no information on the scans. 

 

 

MMS summary (listpartition)

listobs can also be used for Multi MeasurementSets (MMSs). In addition, the task listpartition will provide additional information how the data is structured in preparation for parallelized processing (e.g. using the partition task). The inputs are:

 

#  listpartition :: List the summary of a Multi-MS data set in the logger or in a file
vis                 =         ''        #  Name of Multi-MS or normal MS.
createdict          =      False        #  Create and return a dictionary with
                                        #   Sub-MS information
listfile            =         ''        #  Name of ASCII file to save output:
                                        #   ''==>to terminal

For example,

listpartition('n5921.mms')

results in the logger messages:

This is a multi-MS with separation axis = scan,spw
Sub-MS               Scan  Spw    Nchan  Nrows   Size  
ngc5921.mms.0000.ms  2     [0]    [63]   1890    27M   
                     4     [0]    [63]   756           
                     5     [0]    [63]   1134          
                     6     [0]    [63]   6804          
ngc5921.mms.0001.ms  1     [0]    [63]   4509    28M   
                     3     [0]    [63]   6048          
                     7     [0]    [63]   1512       

The output can also be redirected to a python dictionary through the createdict parameter. 

 

Listing MS data (listvis)

The listvis prints a list of the visibility data in an MS to the terminal or a textfile. The inputs are:

#  listvis :: List MeasurementSet visibilities.
vis                 =         ''        #  Name of input visibility file
options             =       'ap'        #  List options: ap only
datacolumn          =     'data'        #  Column to list: data, float_data, corrected, model,
                                        #   residual
field               =         ''        #  Field names or index to be listed: ''==>all
spw                 =        '*'        #  Spectral window:channels: '\*'==>all, spw='1:5~57'
selectdata          =      False        #  Other data selection parameters
observation         =         ''        #  Select by observation ID(s)
average             =         ''        #  Averaging mode: ==>none (Not yet implemented)
showflags           =      False        #  Show flagged data (Not yet implemented)
pagerows            =         50        #  Rows per page
listfile            =         ''        #  Output file

For example,

Units of columns are: Date/Time(YYMMDD/HH:MM:SS UT), UVDist(wavelength), Phase(deg), UVW(m)
WEIGHT: 7
FIELD: 2
SPW: 0
Date/Time:                           RR:                 RL:                 LR:                 LL:                                             
2010/04/26/      Intrf UVDist  Chn    Amp     Phs  Wt F   Amp     Phs  Wt F   Amp     Phs  Wt F   Amp     Phs  Wt F         U         V         W
------------|---------|------|----|--------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|---------|---------|---------|
  03:21:56.0 ea01-ea02  72363    0: 0.005  -124.5   7   0.005    25.7   7   0.001   104.6   7   0.000    23.4   7     -501.93   -321.75    157.78
  03:21:56.0 ea01-ea02  72363    1: 0.001    -4.7   7   0.001  -135.1   7   0.004   -14.6   7   0.001    19.9   7     -501.93   -321.75    157.78
  03:21:56.0 ea01-ea02  72363    2: 0.002    17.8   7   0.002    34.3   7   0.005  -114.3   7   0.005  -149.7   7     -501.93   -321.75    157.78
  03:21:56.0 ea01-ea02  72363    3: 0.004   -19.4   7   0.003   -79.2   7   0.002   -89.0   7   0.004    31.3   7     -501.93   -321.75    157.78
  03:21:56.0 ea01-ea02  72363    4: 0.001   -16.8   7   0.004  -141.5   7   0.005   114.9   7   0.006   105.2   7     -501.93   -321.75    157.78
  03:21:56.0 ea01-ea02  72363    5: 0.001   -29.8   7   0.009   -96.4   7   0.002  -125.0   7   0.002   -64.5   7     -501.93   -321.75    157.78
...
Type Q to quit, A to toggle long/short list, or RETURN to continue [continue]:

columns are:

COLUMN NAME       DESCRIPTION
-----------       -----------
Date/Time     Time stamp of data sample (YYMMDD/HH:MM:SS UT)
Intrf                Interferometer baseline (antenna names)
UVDist            uv-distance (units of wavelength)
Fld                  Field ID (if more than 1)
SpW               Spectral Window ID (if more than 1)
Chn                Channel number (if more than 1)
(Correlated          Correlated polarizations (eg: RR, LL, XY)
  polarization)     Sub-columns are: Amp, Phs, Wt, F
Amp               Visibility amplitude
Phs                 Visibility phase (deg)
Wt                  Weight of visibility measurement
F                     Flag: 'F' = flagged datum; ' ' = unflagged
UVW               UVW coordinates (meters)

Note that MS listings can be very large. Use selectdata=True and subselect the data to obtain the desired information as much as possible.