Context. Measurement of the Galactic neutral atomic hydrogen (H i) column density, N H i , and brightness temperatures, T B , is of high scientific value for a broad range of astrophysical disciplines. In the past two decades, one of the most-used legacy H i datasets has been the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn Survey (LAB). Aims. We release the H i 4π survey (HI4PI), an all-sky database of Galactic H i, which supersedes the LAB survey. Methods. The HI4PI survey is based on data from the recently completed first coverage of the Effelsberg-Bonn H i Survey (EBHIS) and from the third revision of the Galactic All-Sky Survey (GASS). EBHIS and GASS share similar angular resolution and match well in sensitivity. Combined, they are ideally suited to be a successor to LAB. Results. The new HI4PI survey outperforms the LAB in angular resolution (ϑ FWHM = 16 .2) and sensitivity (σ rms = 43 mK). Moreover, it has full spatial sampling and thus overcomes a major drawback of LAB, which severely undersamples the sky. We publish all-sky column density maps of the neutral atomic hydrogen in the Milky Way, along with full spectroscopic data, in several map projections including HEALPix.

Context. The Parkes Galactic all-sky survey (GASS) is a survey of Galactic atomic hydrogen (H i) emission in the southern sky observed with the Parkes 64-m Radio Telescope. The first data release was published by McClure-Griffiths et al. (2009). Aims. We remove instrumental effects that affect the GASS and present the second data release. Methods. We calculate the stray-radiation by convolving the all-sky response of the Parkes antenna with the brightness temperature distribution from the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) all sky 21-cm line survey, with major contributions from the 30-m dish of the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (IAR) in the southern sky. Remaining instrumental baselines are corrected using the LAB data for a first guess of emission-free baseline regions. Radio frequency interference is removed by median filtering. Results. After applying these corrections to the GASS we find an excellent agreement with the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) survey.The GASS is the highest spatial resolution, most sensitive, and is currently the most accurate H i survey of the Galactic H i emission in the southern sky. We provide a web interface for generation and download of FITS cubes.

Context. The Effelsberg-Bonn H  Survey (EBHIS) is a new 21-cm survey performed with the 100-m telescope at Effelsberg. It covers the whole northern sky out to a redshift of z ∼ 0.07 and comprises H  line emission from the Milky Way and the Local Volume. Aims. We aim to substitute the northern-hemisphere part of the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn Milky Way H  survey (LAB) with this first EBHIS data release, which presents the H  gas in the Milky Way regime.Methods. The use of a seven-beam L-band array made it feasible to perform this all-sky survey with a 100-m class telescope in a reasonable amount of observing time. State-of-the-art fast-Fourier-transform spectrometers provide the necessary data read-out speed, dynamic range, and spectral resolution to apply software radio-frequency interference mitigation. EBHIS is corrected for stray radiation and employs frequency-dependent flux-density calibration and sophisticated baseline-removal techniques to ensure the highest possible data quality. Results. Detailed analyses of the resulting data products show that EBHIS is not only outperforming LAB in terms of sensitivity and angular resolution, but also matches the intensity-scale of LAB extremely well, allowing EBHIS to be used as a drop-in replacement for LAB. Data products are made available to the public in a variety of forms. Most important, we provide a properly gridded Milky Way H  column density map in HEALPix representation. To maximize the usefulness of EBHIS data, we estimate uncertainties in the H  column density and brightness temperature distributions, accounting for systematic effects.

The Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (WALLABY) is a next-generation survey of neutral hydrogen (H I) in the Local Universe. It uses the widefield, high-resolution capability of the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a radio interferometer consisting of 36 × 12-m dishes equipped with Phased-Array Feeds (PAFs), located in an extremely radioquiet zone in Western Australia. WALLABY aims to survey three-quarters of the sky (−90 • < δ < +30 • ) to a redshift of z 0.26, and generate spectral line image cubes at ∼30 arcsec resolution and ∼1.6 mJy beam −1 per 4 km s −1 channel sensitivity. ASKAP's instantaneous field of view at 1.4 GHz, delivered by the PAF's 36 beams, is about 30 sq deg. At an integrated signal-to-noise ratio of five, WALLABY is expected to detect around half a million galaxies with a mean redshift of z ∼ 0.05 (∼200 Mpc). The scientific goals of WALLABY include: (a) a census of gas-rich galaxies in the vicinity of the Local Group; (b) a study of the H I properties of galaxies, groups and clusters, in particular the influence of the environment on galaxy evolution; and (c) the refinement of cosmological parameters using the spatial and redshift distribution of low-bias gas-rich galaxies. For context we provide an overview of recent and planned large-scale H I surveys. Combined with existing and new multi-wavelength sky surveys, WALLABY will enable an exciting new generation of panchromatic studies of the Local Universe. -First results from the WALLABY pilot survey are revealed, with initial data products publicly available in the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA).

The Effelsberg‐Bonn H I survey (EBHIS) comprises an all‐sky survey north of Dec = –5° of the Milky Way and the local volume out to a red‐shift of z ≃ 0.07. Using state of the art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) spectrometers it is feasible to cover the 100 MHz bandwidth with 16.384 spectral channels. High speed storage of H I spectra allows us to minimize the degradation by Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) signals. Regular EBHIS survey observations started during the winter season 2008/2009 after extensive system evaluation and verification tests. Until today, we surveyed about 8000 square degrees, focusing during the first all‐sky coverage of the Sloan‐Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) area and the northern extension of the Magellanic stream. The first whole sky coverage will be finished in 2011. Already this first coverage will reach the same sensitivity level as the Parkes Milky Way (GASS) and extragalactic surveys (HIPASS). EBHIS data will be calibrated, stray‐radiation corrected and freely accessible for the scientific community via a webinterface. In this paper we demonstrate the scientific data quality and explore the expected harvest of this new all‐sky survey (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)