CoastWatch Satellite Course

Welcome to the NOAA CoastWatch April 2022 Satellite Course! You are joining over 50 active students in this online training. We are excited to have you in the class and look forward to helping you learn about satellite data and how to obtain and work with it!

Learning Outcomes

You will get familiar with the basic principles of remote sensing and the main ocean parameters
You will practice using the ERDDAP platform to visualize, subset and download data
You will learn where to find data
You will learn how to judge whether a specific product is appropriate for your application, and when in doubt, you will know who to contact to get guidance
You will apply what you learn on a personal project and leave the class with ready-to-use workflows

Project

As part of the course, you are expected to come with a specific project to work on during the week. Participants get more out of the workshop if they have specific questions or projects to work on. You will give a very brief intro to your project on the first day and will give a short (1 slide, 2 mins max) lightning talk at the end of the week.

This can be as simple as making a map or a time series for your region of interest if you are not currently working with satellite data. Make sure you will have any ancillary data you may need ready by Apr. 25th.
For example, if your project is to merge tagged animal tracks with satellite data, you should have the track data ready.

If you do not have a project to work on, please contact Melanie for help.

Time Commitment

Expect to spend about 1h/day in live sessions and at least 2h/day on your own to go over self-paced materials or work on your project. Instructors will be available during the day to answer questions or help troubleshoot, on demand. The last day will be a 2-3h presentation day.

Schedule

Prior to the course ensure you are set up with the software needed to work through the tutorials. Visit the Pre-Course Setup section below to view details.

course schedule
	Monday 04/25	Tuesday 04/26	Wednesday 04/27	Thursday 04/28	Friday 04/29
10-11am HST	Morning Session Links to an external site. Course Introduction (REQUIRED)	Morning Session Links to an external site. Guest Lecture: Jeff Polovina Applications of satellite data	Morning Session Links to an external site.	Morning Session Links to an external site.	Wrap up and Student Presentations Links to an external site. 10 - 12pm HST (REQUIRED)
	Self Study At your own pace	Self Study At your own pace	Self Study At your own pace	Self Study At your own pace
2-4pm HST	Office Hours Links to an external site.	Office Hours Links to an external site.	Office Hours Links to an external site.	Office Hours Links to an external site.

Course Structure

Morning Sessions | 10am HST

The Day 1 live morning session will include an introduction to the course and the instructors. This will be an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and briefly describe your class project. Attendance to this session on Day 1 is required. On Days 2 through 4, during the live morning session the instructors will review the previous day’s homework, preview the course activities for the self-study periods, and answer any common questions that have come up.

Self Study | Monday - Thursday | Self-paced

Each day you will work at your own schedule and pace to complete the course content and work on your individual project. The first few days feature video tutorials on satellite data, example software tutorials and homework exercises. As the week progresses, you will use the self study period to work on your individual project.

Office Hours | Monday-Thursday, 2pm - 4 pm HST | Optional

During office hours the instructors will be in the online course meeting and will be available for answering any questions about the lessons, data availability, troubleshooting code issues etc. Attendance is optional, but this will be the most optimal way to get one-on-one assistance. We recommend you tune in for the first half hour as these office hours often generate interesting group discussions. Feel free to log off whenever based on your interest and needs.

Student Presentations | Friday 10am - 12pm HST | Required

On the last day, you will give a brief (2 minute maximum) presentation on your project (1 slide only). Due to the number of students expected for this course, we will probably divide the session into two or three groups and assign students to a one-hour session. The course will end after the student presentation sessions on Friday.

Pre-Course Setup

To get the most out of the course, ensure you are set up ahead of time and ready to go on Monday morning. Install the software well in advance of the course to leave time for addressing installation issues. NOAA employees, contractors, and affiliates using government-issued computers will likely require the approval and assistance of IT administrators to install software.

Contact Melanie (Melanie.Abecassis at noaa.gov) if you have questions about software.

1. Gather Files for Your Project

You are encouraged to come to the course with a project to work on and any information needed for the project. For example, if a project is to match up tagged animal tracks with satellite data, then track data (a list of dates, latitudes, and longitudes) would be required.

2. Setup Your Computer and Software

Panoply

You will use panoply for the assignment with NetCDF data. Please install Panoply, a NetCDF viewer developed by NASA. Panoply can be run on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/panoply Links to an external site.

Setup the software you will use for your project

To cater to the needs of diverse students, we offer tutorials in R, Python and ArcGIS. The R materials are the most developed and will be the dominant software used in course demonstrations. We encourage you to choose software you are familiar with and basic knowledge of the software chosen is expected.

R and R Studio

R 4.x Links to an external site. is required for the R packages that will be used in the course.
The latest version of R Studio Links to an external site. is required to participate in the R tutorials and examples presented in the course.
Run this R script to test and/or install required modules for workshop exercises:

R Script for required modules Links to an external site.

Python

The examples presented in the course are written in Python 3 and provided as Jupyter Notebooks. Anaconda Links to an external site. installations have made it easier to install the required modules. We recommend Miniconda Links to an external site., a lightweight version of Anaconda that takes up less disk space and resolves common environment configuration issues present in the full anaconda distribution.

For details and instructions on setting up and testing your environment view the python code readme on github:

Setup and Test Your Python Environment Links to an external site.

ESRI ArcGIS

Users must have their own licensed version of ArcGIS and the Spatial Analyst Extension.

3. Log into Slack

Slack will be used to introduce yourself to your fellow class mates, ask/answer questions, share your progress on your project.

1. Click on this invite link Links to an external site. to get access to the CoastWatch Slack workspace.

2. We will use this channel Links to an external site. for the class. Click the "Join Channel" at the bottom center of the page the first time you access it.

All users should understand this is a public forum and anything submitted is open to public access.

For NOAA employees and affiliates:

Visit slack.com Links to an external site. and establish an account.

1) Users should create an account using their NOAA email as the username and create a unique password.

(select the "continue with email" option)

2) Use the Slack web interface. Do not install the Slack App/program on your Government computer.

3) Don't share screen while using Slack (close/hide the tab)

Course Materials

Day 1 - Monday April 25, 2022

Day 2 - Tuesday April 26, 2022

Day 3 - Wednesday April 27, 2022

Day 4 - Thursday April 28, 2022

Day 5: Friday April 29, 2022

This course content is offered under a Public Domain Links to an external site. license. Content in this course can be considered under this license unless otherwise noted.

....or call 1-833-566-3347 (staff/faculty)
1-877-399-4090 (students)

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Textbooks

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