Exploring the Climate of Chukotka

 

 

Download the Climate Map instructions as a PDF >> 

 

Introduction: 

The GoNorth! Team needs your help planning their route for the 2007 GoNorth! expedition. Part of the planning process includes the study of Chukotka's climate and topography. The study of climate includes looking at snow depth and temperature changes. The study of topography, the change in elevation, helps lay-out the best trail by identifying the snow depth which determines the best route. The Team starts their studying before they hit the trail and GIS helps them visually see where they need to go.

 

Objective:

In this exercise you will take a closer look at Chukotka's climate and topography by using ArcExplorer. You will be working with current web data that are supplied http://geographynetwork.com. You will be plotting data from the site to a map which in turn will help you ask and answer questions about the climate and topography of Chukotka.

Step 1: Starting ArcExplorer and adding base data.


Let's start up ArcExplorer! (If you don't know how, ask your teacher.)

After starting ArcExplorer, we need to add our base data. What is base data? Well, our base data is essentially a backdrop of the world. By adding our climate and topography layer base data we can use ArcExplorer to locate where we are!
Let's go get our base data!

1. In the Tools menu select Catalog. This will bring up Catalog which behaves much like Windows Explorer.

 
2. In Catalog, click once on the + sign just left of the Internet Servers icon. This will expand the icon to show the icon Add Internet Server. Double click on Add Internet Server. This will bring up another window called ArcIMS 4 Connection. The URL should automatically contain a web address called the geography network and "Connect to ArcIMS 4 Services" should already be selected. Take a look at the snapshot below and make sure your view matches this view. Then select OK.
 


3. A little briefcase like this  should now appear with http://www.geographynetwork.com to the left of the briefcase. Click once on the  sign to the left of the web address. A whole series of available data should now be listed.

 

4. Now that we are connected to the geographynetwork we are going to look at the topography of Chukotka first. In the left hand side of Catalog scroll down to ESRI_Relief.  It should look like this: . Double click on this icon. A briefcase with ESRI_MODIS appears with the + sign. Single click the + sign make sure your ESRI_Relief is highlighted when you do this. A grid file called ESRI_Relief now appears.  Select the grid. Then look to your right side of Catalog where you will see two folders. One folder is named Contents which should already be selected and the other is Preview. Select your Preview folder. A topographic (or relief) image of the world should appear in the preview pane and your Catalog should look like the one below.

The type of map you see is a shaded relief map. A shaded relief map shows elevation changes on a map. It is a two-dimensional surface. When we plot this in ArcExplorer you will be able to see mountain ranges and valleys in a more realistic view. This particular relief map is actually supplied to you by the United States Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) center located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. How long do you think it took to create this shaded relief image? To find out the answer and more about this shaded relief data visit http://edc.usgs.gov/products/elevation/gtopo30/gtopo30.html.

 

Let's go back now to ArcExplorer and Catalog.

5. In Catalog, left click on the ESRI_Relief grid, drag it over to the left side of ArcExplorer. You will notice your mouse pointer changes to a + sign when you are on the left side of ArcExplorer. This means that the file is ready to be dropped - so now is the time to let go of your mouse button. Your Relief image should now appear in ArcExplorer and a number of folders with check marks, red or black, will now appear under your Layers. The black check marks mean that those layers are turned on and visible at the current extent on the right hand side of your window. The red check boxes mean that the layers are turned on but they are not currently visible. They may or may not become visible when you zoom in to certain areas on the map.  Take a moment to play around with the zoom in  and zoom out  tool. When you're done, zoom back to the entire world by using the world button .


6. Now let's focus on Chukotka. Use your zoom in button  and then click and drag your mouse over the northeast part of Russia, Chukotka. Wait a few seconds for the image to reset itself to a better resolution. Can you see the difference between the mountain ranges and the flat areas in Chukotka?


7. We are going to add some more data to your project so you can identify where you are a little bit better. Chukotka is so big, one could easily get lost. Let's add the ESRI_MODIS data from Catalog. In Catalog, scroll down to ESRI_MODIS and double click. A briefcase with ESRI_MODIS appears with the + sign. Single click the + sign and make sure your ESRI_MODIS is highlighted when you do this. A grid file called ESRI_MODIS now appears.  Select the grid and drag and drop it into your ArcExplorer.


8. Did the MODIS image not appear right away? In order for the image to appear we have to move it to the top in ArcExplorer. Select the MODIS image on the left hand side and right click your mouse. Now scroll down to Move Layer on the pop-up menu and select Move to Top. This will move your MODIS image to the top view.

 
9. Now you can see your MODIS image but you can't see your Relief map.  Let's fix this, it's an easy step. What we are going to do is fade the MODIS image so we can see through the image. This will dull the MODIS image a bit but it may help you decipher where the mountain ranges are.


10. Select your MODIS image so that it's highlighted and right click your mouse.  Scroll down and select properties from the pop-up menu. In the properties menu that appears, down near the bottom, there is a category called Transparency. Set your transparency to 50 and then click ok. You should now be able to see some shaded relief through your MODIS image. This will help us navigate. 


11. Continue to use the zoom in , zoom out  and the pan tool  to explore Chukotka. In this area of the world there are very few roads, it may appear in some areas there are no roads at all. Why do you think this is?

 

12. When you're finished exploring, zoom to the region that the GoNorth! Team will be traveling. Your view should look like something below. Feel free to zoom into the north coast of Chukotka and explore that region.


13. Looking at the topography, why do you think the GoNorth! Team is traveling along the coast? As we start to think about climate in the next step, look at this area again. Where do you think the coldest spots will be? Where do you think the deepest snow will be? We'll take a look at those questions in the next section.


14. If you would like to save your work in ArcExplorer go up to the File menu, scroll down and select the Save As option. In your Save window navigate to where you want your project saved to in your Save in menu. Give your project a name in the File Name and click Save. Your project should now be saved and you can return to the same spot next time you start ArcExplorer. 

 

Step 2: Looking at temperature and snow depth in Chukotka.


1. If you closed your project from above, go ahead and open ArcExplorer and open your saved project.

 

2. Let's zoom back out to the entire area of Chukotka. We are going to look at some temperature data from the Geography Network web site. Remember to use the  tool to zoom out.


3. In Catalog, scroll down to ESRI_Temp_Yr.  Drag ESRI_Temp_Yr into your ArcExplorer. Tip: Follow the same steps you used when you brought in your ESRI_MODIS and ESRI_Relief images in.


4. When you upload your data it shows up at the bottom of the MODIS image and Relief image. Turn the MODIS and Relief images off by un-checking ESRI_MODIS and ESRI_Relief. Tip: You only need to uncheck the top check and not the sub-checks underneath.


5. You should now see only the climate data. What do all the colors mean? Let's look. Do you see the black check next to Temperature - Year? Click on the + sign just to the left. What opens-up are the categories of average mean temperature in Celsius for the year. Where is the average coldest part of Chukotka? Why are there pockets of colder temperature near the southern end of Chukotka? (Remember that in the maps we use, North is to the top of the page and South is towards the bottom. This may not be the case for all maps.) 


6. To help answer some of the questions above, let's move the ESRI_Temp_Yr on top of the ESRI_Relief image. To do this, right click on ESRI_Temp_Yr.  Select Move Layer and then Move Up. Now turn on your ESRI_Relief image by placing a check in the empty box next to ESRI_Relief.


7. Now we need to fade the ESRI_Temp_Yr so that the relief image can be seen underneath. Tip: Go back to Step 1: #10 for an example of how this is done.


8. Now we can see the mountain ranges under the temperatures. This will help you answer why there are pockets of colder temperatures near the southern end of Chukotka. Where are the warmest temperatures in Chukotka? Why do you think they are located where they are? 


9. Now that we have looked at elevation and temperature, let's take a look at one more layer. The layer we need to drag to ArcExplorer is ESRI_Snow. Go ahead and drag the layer into your project. Remember, this layer is added to the bottom of your ArcExplorer project so turn off all the layers above the snow layer. You may also want to shrink the ESRI_MODIS and ESRI_Temp_Yr layer so that everything is a little easer to view in the left view pain of ArcExplorer. To do this click on the - to the left of each. This action hides the legend; it doesn't remove what is displayed in the right view pane of ArcExplorer.


10. Now let's click on the + sign by the black check mark next to Snow Cover Days located under the ESRI_Snow layer. You can now see what the colors on your screen mean. Move the ESRI_Snow layer in-between the ESRI_Relief and ESRI_Temp_Yr. Turn off your ESRI_Temp_Yr layer so that the snow layer is now visible. Your view should look something like this:


11. Note that the average "least amount of snow covered days" occurring on the GoNorth! route is 200 days. Wow! Snow for 200 of the 365 days a year! Can you find any areas that are covered in snow all year long? Look at these areas and take a good guess as to why they are snow covered all year long. Will the GoNorth! Team have to cross an area that is covered with snow all year long?


12. To help you answer some of the questions presented above let's set the transparency on your ESRI_Snow to 50% and then turn on the ESRI_Relief if it is not on already. Turn on your ESRI_Temp_Yr and fade this to 75%. This map can get a little busy with data but note how the snow cover and temperatures correlate.


13. The rest of the exercise you should explore the different layers, turn on, turn off, reorder, fade, find where the GoNorth! Team is and be weather explorers. Have fun!