Target Audience
·
high school teachers and students
·
pre-service high school teachers
·
community college instructors and students
·
undergraduate instructors and students
Relevant
Subjects
·
Earth systems science
·
Earth science
·
remote sensing
·
biology
·
space science
·
geography
·
oceanography
·
chemistry
·
physics
·
geomorphology
·
atmospheric science
·
environmental science
·
technology
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Contents
Remote Sensing Tutorial
This
part of the tutorial consists of a downloadable,
PowerPoint presentation of 50 slides encompassing many basic
definitions of remote sensing with colorful examples, as well as detailed
information about electromagnetic (EM) radiation and how EM theory helps
explain how we do remote sensing. Most
of the slides are accompanied by detailed notes and references to pertinent
on-line resources. These slides could
form the basis of one or two class lectures in remote sensing. Here is an example of one of the slides in
the tutorial. You can also view the notes.
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Classroom Activities
This part of the tutorial consists
of two classroom activities which do not require a student to have computer
access.
This lesson consists of a “paper-and-pencil”
activity designed to get students thinking about Earth’s temperature. They are given a black and white map of Earth
and asked to color the map according to what they believe is the appropriate
surface temperature distribution around the Earth. This activity is accompanied by a very short PowerPoint
presentation about Global Earth Temperature for use by the teacher.
Using Satellite Images From MODIS to Estimate the Size and Speed of
Hurricane Isabel
This is a series of PowerPoint
slides which the teacher can use as a lecture or can print and give to the
students to do as an exercise. It asks
students to use two spectacular satellite images from MODIS of Hurricane Isabel
and their skill in estimation of known quantities (or those easily looked-up)
to determine the approximate area and forward speed of this destructive storm.
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Computer-Based Activities
The computer laboratories (in MS
Word and PDF) in this part of the tutorial have step-by-step instructions for
how to analyze and interpret satellite images of (a) global sea surface
temperature and (b) land vegetation indices.
The student labs are accompanied by an instructor’s guide containing
answers to all of the questions.
Sea Surface Temperature and Oceanography From Space
In this lab, your
students will have to opportunity to explore global oceanographic sea surface
temperature (SST) using a research-quality, satellite derived data set and an
easy-to-use, free image analysis software program called ImageJ.
The computer lab itself contains step-by-step instructions
for using ImageJ to explore the SST data set. Your students will be able to conduct
quantitative investigations of the:
- Global
geographic distribution of sea surface temperature
- Seasonal
cycle of SST
- El
Nino and how it effects the SST
They will be empowered to perform simple image analysis,
create image montages and animations, compute simple statistical analysis, and
answer questions about the data as they proceed through the lab.
An instructor’s guide to the lab is also provided which
contains all of the answers.
Download and print the lab and the instructor’s guide first:
Download lab in MS Word (link)
Download instructor’s guide in MS Word (link)
Download lab in PDF (link)
Download instructor’s guide in PDF (link)
Software
for Sea Surface Temperature Data Activity
ImageJ
is a public domain Java image processing program inspired by NIH Image for the Macintosh. It runs on any computer
with a Java 1.1 or later virtual machine, either as an online applet or as a
downloadable application. The author,
Wayne Rasband (wayne@codon.nih.gov),
is at the Research Services Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda,
Maryland, USA. The best source of information about ImageJ can be found at the ImageJ
homepage (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/)
and by subscribing to the ImageJ mailing list (details
on the home page). The ImageJ Manual is meant to be an introduction to ImageJ for light microscopy – a small part of ImageJ’s repertoire.
Download ImageJ (link)
Monthly Averaged Sea
Surface Temperature Data
It is recommended that you download this small PowerPoint
file which has a very brief introduction to the satellite sensor, the
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), from which the Sea Surface
Temperature (SST) images are derived. (need
info about zipping the data, and how big once unzipped).
The data
provided for the SST exercises is a wonderful time-series of satellite-derived SST
for the global oceans. Hence, we call it
a “global” data set. Each file, or
image, represents a monthly average of all of the SST data collected during
that period. The data begin with an
image in December 1981 and extend through April 2004. The images are organized into annual folders,
named by the corresponding year. There
is one folder for each year of data from 1981/82 through 2004:
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Computer-Based
Activities
Using Land Vegetation Data (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) to
Investigate Landscape and Greenness
In this lab, your students will have to opportunity to
explore global and regional vegetation “greenness” data using a
research-quality, satellite derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
(NDVI) data set from the AVHRR with an easy-to-use, free image analysis
software program from NASA called NASA Image2000.
The computer lab itself contains step-by-step instructions
for using NASA Image2000 to explore the AVHRR-derived NDVI data set. Your students will be able to conduct
quantitative investigations of the:
- Computation
of NDVI from AVHRR Channels 1 and 2 radiances
- Different
signatures of clouds, water and land in NDVI images
- Seasonal
“greening” cycle of NDVI in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
- Interannual variability (i.e., El Nino) and its effect
on greenness
They will be empowered to perform simple image analysis,
create image montages and animations, compute simple statistical analysis, and
answer questions about the data as they proceed through the lab.
An instructor’s guide to the lab is also provided which
contains all of the answers.
Download and print the lab and the instructor’s guide first:
Download
lab in MS Word (link)
Download
instructor’s guide in MS Word (link)
Download lab in PDF (link)
Download instructor’s guide in
PDF (link)
Software For Land
Vegetation Greenness Data Activity
The purpose of NASA Image2000 is to provide a
host-independent image processing system for students and educators using
tutorials developed by SEE
and the Center for Image Processing in Education (CIPE). The core plug-in
architecture allows the system to be expanded to accommodate other segments of
the imaging community. NASA Image2000 is based on Sun's Java Advanced
Imaging (JAI) and
includes tools for science which are accessed through a standard menu interface
with toolbars that are customizable through XML definitions.
Download NASA Image2000 (link)
Download
NASA Image2000 documentation
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Last revised: 25
October 2004
Data for Sea Surface Temperature
Activity