Part 2—Animate Web Based GOES Images

In any step, click the Show me link to reveal extra information. If you prefer a printout of the full set of instructions for this part, choose Print from the File menu.

Step 1-Animate a Default GOES Image

A new GOES image of the eastern or western United States is generated approximately every 15 minutes. If you view an animation of 8 frames, you'll see the movement of clouds and water vapor across 2 hours of real time.

To animate one of the default GOES images...visible light, infrared, or water vapor...without zooming in or changing the image in any way, select the Animation radio button and click the button labeled Animate Image BelowIn this example we use an infrared image.

This image shows the controls for a animating a series of GOES images.

The only variable you change when you animate a GOES image this way is the number of images that will appear in the animation. See the Image Loop pop-up menu in the image below.

This animation of 20 images will show 5 hours of cloud motion.

Step 2-Animate a Customized GOES Image

To create a customized animation of a GOES image, change one or more of the following variables and then click on the GOES image to zoom in and launch the animation:

Select the number of images in the animation using the pop-up menu
Select the Zoom Factor
Select the Map type

The location that appears in the animation will depend on both the Zoom Factor you select and the spot on the GOES image where you click to launch the animation.

Web-based animations of GOES images are easy to create, but you are limited to working with the 30 most recent GOES images-a time span of 7.5 hours. Part 3 of this Chapter shows you how to download and animate GOES images without such constraints.

« Previous Page Next Page »