In time-distance helioseismology, the travel time of acoustic waves is measured between various points on the solar surface. To some approximation, the waves can be considered to follow ray paths that depend only on a mean solar model, with the curvature of the ray paths being caused by the increasing sound speed with depth below the surface. The travel time is affected by various inhomogeneities along the ray path, including flows, temperature inhomogeneities, and magnetic fields. By measuring a large number of times between different locations and using an inversion method, it is possible to construct 3-dimensional maps of the subsurface inhomogeneities. The SOI/MDI experiment on SOHO has several unique capabilities for time-distance helioseismology. The great stability of the images observed without benefit of an intervening atmosphere is quite striking. It has made it possible for us to detect the travel time for separations of points as small as 2.4 Mm in the high-resolution mode of MDI (0.6 arc sec pixel-1). This has enabled the detection of the supergranulation flow. Coupled with the inversion technique, we can now study the 3-dimensional evolution of the flows near the solar surface.

The Medium-l Program of the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on board SOHO provides continuous observations of oscillation modes of angular degree, l, from 0 to ∼ 300. The initial results show that the noise in the Medium-l oscillation power spectrum is substantially lower than in ground-based measurements. This enables us to detect lower amplitude modes and, thus, to extend the range of measured mode frequencies. The MDI observations also reveal the asymmetry of oscillation spectral lines. The line asymmetries agree with the theory of mode excitation by acoustic sources localized in the upper convective boundary layer. The sound-speed profile inferred from the mean frequencies gives evidence for a sharp variation at the edge of the energy-generating core. In a thin layer just beneath the convection zone, helium appears to be less abundant than predicted by theory. Inverting the multiplet frequency splittings from MDI, we detect significant rotational shear in this thin layer.

The medium-l program of the Michelson Doppler Imager instrument on board SOHO provides continuous observations of oscillation modes of angular degree, l, from 0 to ∽ 300. The data for the program are partly processed on board because only about 3% of MDI observations can be transmitted continuously to the ground. The on-board data processing, the main component of which is Gaussian-weighted binning, has been optimized to reduce the negative influence of spatial aliasing of the high-degree oscillation modes. The data processing is completed in a data analysis pipeline at the SOI Stanford Support Center to determine the mean multiplet frequencies and splitting coefficients. The initial results show that the noise in the medium-l oscillation power spectrum is substantially lower than in ground-based measurements. This enables us to detect lower amplitude modes and, thus, to extend the range of measured mode frequencies. This is important for inferring the Sun's internal structure and rotation. The MDI observations also reveal the asymmetry of oscillation spectral lines. The line asymmetries agree with the theory of mode excitation by acoustic sources localized in the upper convective boundary layer. The sound-speed profile inferred from the mean frequencies gives evidence for a sharp variation at the edge of the energy-generating core. The results also confirm the previous finding by the GONG (Gough et al., 1996) that, in a thin layer just beneath the convection zone, helium appears to be less abundant than predicted by theory. Inverting the multiplet frequency splittings from MDI, we detect significant rotational shear in this thin layer. This layer is likely to be the place where the solar dynamo operates. In order to understand how the Sun works, it is extremely important to observe the evolution of this transition layer throughout the 11-year activity cycle.