Part 3—Animate NEO Data with ImageJ
Step 1 – Create an Animation Showing How Reflected Shortwave Radiation Changes over the Course of A Year
- Launch ImageJ by double-clicking its icon on your desktop (Mac or PC) or by clicking the icon in the dock (Mac) or the Start menu (PC).
- Choose File > Import > Image Sequence... and navigate to the Reflected Shortwave Radiation folder where you stored the monthly images.
- Select the first image in the sequence and then click the Open button. Specify the Sequence Options. Start with the first image and increment by 1 and then click OK.
- All twelve images will be imported into a stack named Reflected Shortwave Radiation. The individual images in a stack are called "slices" in ImageJ. The image below shows the first of the twelve total slices (1/12). The width and height of the stack in pixels, and the size of the stack, in this case 12 MB, are displayed at the top of the window just below the name of the stack.
- Choose File > Save As... to save the stack as Reflected_Shortwave_Radiation.tif.
- Choose Image > Stacks > Tools > Animation Options... to set the speed of the animation to five frames per second.
- Use Image > Stacks > Tools > Start Animation and Image > Stacks > Tools > Stop Animation to begin and end the animation. Shortcuts include clicking backslash, \, on the keyboard to start the animation, clicking directly on the animation to stop it, and using the > and < keys to step forward and backward through the stack slice by slice. The slider bar at the bottom of the stack makes it possible to quickly move to a particular slice.
If you had difficulty creating or saving the stack, then use the Reflected_Shortwave_Radiation stack provided in the link below. To download and save the Reflected_Shortwave_Radiation stack, on a PC, right-click on the link and on a Mac, control-click on the link. Then choose File > Save As... and navigate to where you want to save the stack.Reflected Shortwave Radiation.tif (TIFF 8.9MB Jun14 10)
Step 2 – Explore How Reflected Shortwave Radiation Changes over the Course of A Year
Experiment with changing the speed of the animation. Step through or animate the Reflected Shortwave Radiation images from January 2009 through December 2009. Carefully observe the changes that occur during the year and then answer the following questions:
- What regions of the Earth are have the most reflected short wave radiation each month of the year? These regions appear "bright" on the map.
- How does this change in the amount of reflected short wave radiation relate to the seasons?
- Which months of the year have the largest area of reflected short wave radiation in the Arctic regions of Canada and Siberia, Russia?
- Canada is heavily forested with evergreen trees, so the cause of this reflected solar radiation is not soil or desert. What might be causing this reflection of the light?