The SOI Data Access and Publication Policy

The following is the data access and publication policy for data observed with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI). For questions or comments, please contact

MDI Data policy

The purpose of the MDI data policy is to enable research in an orderly and efficient fashion while enabling the widest accessibility to the data at the earliest reasonable date. This data policy is straightforward and is consistent with the overall SOHO data policy.

The general statement of the SOHO data policy is:

"The intent of the SOHO data access policy is to provide data to as wide a community as possible and as soon as possible. From the beginning of the operational mission, the scientific community is welcomed and encouraged to participate in the analysis of the SOHO data in collaboration with the PI teams. The goal is to make fully callibrated data available for public use through ESA and NASA archives one year after reception by the PIs."

The SOI/MDI data policy for the original SOHO mission (1995-1998) was an implementation of the SOHO policy to data derived from MDI observations.

Since the SOHO recovery in the Fall of 1998, all MDI data from the start of mission onward have been and continue to be freely available without restriction for research, educational, and any other purposes consistent with the policies of NASA.

We request continued help in locating and correcting problems with the data calibration, format, access, etc. Therefore we request that users contact us if they discover problems with the data.

Requests for unreasonably large amounts of data (in excess of a terabyte) may require us to request funds from the requestor to cover copying expenses.

We request notification of publications of work derived from MDI data.