Unit 3 Assignment
- Due No Due Date
- Points 0
The goal of this assignment is to:
- Use the command line tools in the CoastWatch Utilities for working with data files (rendering, extracting information, etc).
- Learn about the command line options by reading the manual pages.
Follow these steps:
- Look at the contents of the two Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) ice concentration files. Find out:
- Satellite name and country of origin
- Start and end dates
- Map projection
- Pixel resolution
- Render images of the ice concentration in each file centered on Alaska at 2x magnification, showing black coastlines, gray land polygons, and white grid lines.
- Find the minimum, maximum, and mean ice concentration within a 200 km radius of Anchorage, Alaska from the January data file.
- Aerial photographs were taken during January of a number of locations around Alaska to verify the satellite ice concentration measurements. Create a CSV text file of satellite data values to import into Excel — the file should have a header line and lines of data with the latitude/longitude of each station, the ice concentration, the quality flags, and the data file row and column coordinates. The aerial photograph locations are as follows:
- Photo 1: [57.55ºN, 158.28ºW]
- Photo 2: [58.70ºN, 160.14ºW]
- Photo 3: [58.07ºN, 159.23ºW]
- Photo 4: [60.09ºN, 152.18ºW]
- Export the July ice concentration data to a binary grid file so that it can be used in ArcGIS. Make sure to also create a header file. Bonus question: What is the byte order in the ArcGIS file?
Assignment hints:
- Use a web search and Google Maps to help you on some parts.
- You can try using the Ocean-ice or Blue-White palettes for rendering ice concentration.
- Part (4) may require you to use a text editor.
- Look for help both in the manual pages and in the examples and information throughout Unit 3.