Part 1-Download Images and Software

Go to the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) site (more info) to request (download) ozone images.

Image request settings for October 1, 1996 TIFF image.

1. Near the bottom of the TOMS page, under "Choose output," click the drop-down menu and choose South Pole Image - TIFF (1280 x 960).
2. Under "Select coverage satellite," click the drop-down menu and choose Earth Probe: 7/25/1996-12/31/2005.
3. Under "Date to be studied," set the fields to Oct 1, 1996.
4. Click the Request button.
5. When the image appears in your browser window, right-click it (or ctrl-click on Macs) and select the "Save image as" option. Save the image in a new folder named "TOMS Images" on your hard drive. Keep the default name for the image, or give it a name that includes the date it represents.
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1. Right-click the image (Mac users-hold down the ctrl key and click) to display a menu of choices. Select the Save Image As... or Download Image to Disk option to store the image on your computer.
   
2. When prompted for a location to store the image, make a new folder named TOMS Images.
3. Keep the default image name (it tells the date), and click Save.

NOTE: If saving or downloading the image is not an available option on your computer, see the Troubleshooting Tips below.

6. After you've downloaded the first image, click your browser's Back button. Under "Date to be studied," change the year to 1997. Click the Request button again, then save the next image to your hard drive.
7. Repeat step 6 until you've requested and saved TOMS images of October 1 for every year from 1996 through 2005.
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Just seeing the images in your browser window isn't sufficient. You must download and save each of the images to your hard drive so you can open them into the image processing software in Part 2.
Can't Save?
Some browsers have been set to display TIFF images within Quicktime Player, and Save Image as... is not an option. If you can change the preferences of your browser to display TIFF images directly in the browser window, this may allow you to save them.
While our goal is for you to be able to download and analyze whichever ozone images you want directly from the TOMS site, we're offering a link to a compressed folder of the necessary images so you can work through the analysis presented in this activity.
• Download a compressed file that contains the TIFF images:
  Right-click (ctrl-click on Macs) this link to download a zipped file of the TIFF images ( 369kB Jan30 07). Choose the "Download Link to Disk" or "Save Link As..." option. Once the file downloads, you may need to double-click it to decompress it. The decompressed file will be a folder named Ozone TIFFs. Open the images from within the ImageJ application as directed in Step 1 of Part 2.

• Alternatively, if you're not successful with the link above, try this file ( 538kB Apr4 06) instead.

• If the two options above do not work, then try downloading each image separately from here. Right-click on a PC or ctrl-click on a Mac to download the images separately.
  October 1996
  October 1997
  October 1998
  October 1999
  October 2000
  October 2001
  October 2002
  October 2003
  October 2004
  October 2005
  
8. If you experience problems obtaining ozone images, an alternate way to find and download ones of interest is to go through the site's FTP (File Transfer Protocol) interface.

The ImageJ program is in the public domain. It can be freely downloaded and installed on any computer including those at schools, homes, and businesses.

Open the ImageJ download page in a new window. Download the file for your computer's operating system and install the software on your hard drive.

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1. Click the link above to open the ImageJ Download page in a new window.
2. On the ImageJ download page, click the link that appears directly below the name of your computer's operating system (Mac, Windows, Linux). This action will transfer a compressed file of the software to your computer. Your browser should automatically expand the file, creating an ImageJ folder on your computer's hard drive.

For more detailed instructions from the ImageJ website, click Installation Instructions then select your operating system.