About AIA Cutout Service
The SDO AIA Get Data form enables you to request AIA image sets to be prepared for downloading.
The data request form will be pre-populated with the spatiotemporal bounds of an event from the Heliophysics Events Registry if you access it via the "Get SDO Data" link from iSolSearch; you may use the same form for any other data request (by drawing a box in the window or typing in coordinates into the parameter fields).
There are two services available for data ordering:
- SSW Service -- For about the most recent 30 days, serves quicklook, near-realtime, non-definitive level-1.5 FITS files. For data older than about
30 days, serves definitive level-1 FITS files. This generally allows one to get data as recent as today.
- JSOC Service (*) -- Serves definitive level-1 FITS files. This service will generally serve data no newer than 5 days old. Does not interface with this page but available here
(*) - Default recommended service
For clarification of level-1.0 and 1.5 data please refer to the AIA Data Processing and Distribution document.
You will receive an email once your request has been submitted, and then another upon completion of your submission.
If an error occurred in your submission, you will receive an email stating this. The response e-mail from a JSOC service request will
contain a link to the HCR (Heliophysics Coverage Registry) entry as well as a link to get the data. The response email from a SSW service request will contain a link to
the SSW landing page which will contain links to the HCR entry (which will have summary images and movies), a list
of files, and the IDL command to get the data.
When using iSolSearch to request data for specific events, please first see whether
the data product already exists. These show up as "Observations in the neighborhood" on the confirmation page. The data that
already exists is available immediately, whereas a request will take a while depending on the backlog of cutout requests. Thus, we
urge the user to use existing data products if available.
For more information there is a Guide to SDO Data Analysis
FAQ:
Q: What is the JSOC Cadence Number and how does it work?
A: To create an AIA movie, images are uniformly sampled between the Start Date/Time and End Date/Time you input. The Cadence Number is the time interval between these sampled images.
Q: Why does my bounding box keep changing sizes / positions?
A: Your bounding box will change sizes for 2 reasons, both of which can happen to a single request:
- The JSOC service requires that the bounding box be on disk. If you are using the JSOC service and draw a bounding box that falls outside the disk, we will adjust the box for you to give you a better chance of recieving good data.
- The code will adjust your box to help improve your chances of finding an already generated cutout.
Q: What is the JSOC?
A: JSOC stands for "Joint Science Operations Center". More info about the JSOC can be found here.
Q: What is SSW?
A: SSW stands for "SolarSoftware". More info about SSW can be found here.
Q: What is "level-1" data?
A: Level-1 data has been flat fielded, but has not been calibrated or coaligned.
Q: What is "level-1.5" data?
A: Level-1.5 data has been run through aia_prep and has been calibrated and coaligned.
Q: What is the difference between level-1.0 and 1.5 data?
A: For clarification of level-1.0 and 1.5 data please refer to the AIA Data Processing and Distribution document.
Q: I have a question/suggestion/complaint. Who do I send it to?
A: Please send any questions/suggestions/complaints to 
We will do our
best to respond in a timely fashion. We thank you for your patience.
Q: What happened to 4500 data?
A: Due to expected on-orbit degradation of the front entrance filter, 4500 Angstrom image quality have been progressively degrading throughout the mission and we do not recommending using this channel for
scientific analysis. Other AIA channels, which are protected by the focal plane filters, do not suffer such a problem. For visible light images of the Sun we recommend using HMI data. If you insist
on requesting 4500 data, please request them directly using JSOC lookdata.
Questions / Suggestions:
