SuperCLASS. I.

The aim is to observe the sky at L-band (1.4GHz) to a r.m.s. of 7uJy/beam over an area of 1 square degrees centred on the Abell 981 supercluster. The main scientific objectives of the project are: (i) to detect the effects of weak lensing in the radio in preparation for similar measurements that will be made by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA); (ii) an extinction free census of star formation and AGN activity at z up to 1.

In this paper we give an overview of the project including the science goals and multi-wavelength coverage before presenting the first data release. We have analysed around 400 hours of e-MERLIN data which has allowed us to create a DR1 mosaic covering an area ~0.26 square degrees to the full depth. These observations have been supplemented with complementary radio observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and optical/near infra-red observations taken with the Subaru, Canada-France-Hawaii and Spitzer Telescopes.