Data Access & Policy

Updated 22 April 2011

Primary Users
MERMAID has originally been developed for supporting the MERIS Maintenance & Evolution project. Members of the MERIS Quality Working Group (MQWG) have access to the database within the frame of their mandate as defined and approved by ESA. In situ data providers with successful matchups with MERIS data are also granted access to the database.

External Users
Any investigators outside the scope of the MERIS maintenance & evolution project can request access to the database by sending a short description of their project and the intended use of the MERMAID data at mermaid@acri.fr. Access will be granted through a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Acknowledgements and Proprietary Rights
When MERMAID extractions are used in publications, the Principal Investigators of in situ data (PIs) should always be contacted for approval, be offered co-authorship and acknowledged. The PIs and contact details are listed in the table below and appear in the MERIS extractions.

ACRI-ST and ARGANS should always be acknowledged too, as quality control, post-processing, MERIS processing, extractions, database system and web facility are proprietary and operated on behalf of ESA.

Restrictions
Access is strictly personal through nominative login and password.
MERMAID extractions and data should only be used for the validation purpose defined when access was granted; in particular redistribution of MERMAID extractions directly or through external facilities/database is forbidden.