The Survey of Centaurus A's Baryonic Structures (SCABS). I. Survey
  Description and Initial Source Catalogues
  We present new, wide-field, optical ($u'g'r'i'z'$) Dark Energy Camera
observations covering $\sim21\,{\rm deg}^2$ centred on the nearby giant
elliptical galaxy NGC5128 called "The Survey of Centaurus A's Baryonic
Structures" (SCABS). The data reduction and analysis procedures are described
including initial source detection, photometric and astrometric calibration,
image stacking, and point-spread function modelling. We estimate 50 and 90
percent, field-dependent, point-source completeness limits of at least
$u'=24.08$ and $23.62$ mag (AB), $g'=22.67$ and $22.27$ mag, $r'=22.46$ and
$22.00$ mag, $i'=22.05$ and $21.63$ mag, and $z'=21.71$ and $21.34$ mag. Deeper
imaging in the $u'$-, $i'$- and $z'$-bands provide the fainter limits for the
inner $\sim3\,{\rm deg}^2$ of the survey, and we find very stable photometric
sensitivity across the entire field of view. Source catalogues are released in
all filters including spatial, photometric, and morphological information for a
total of $\sim5\times10^5-1.5\times10^6$ detected sources (filter-dependent).
We finish with a brief discussion of potential science applications for the
data including, but not limited to, upcoming works by the SCABS team.
