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Advanced Mountain Topography

Mountain Environments Advanced On-Line Activity

Learner Outcomes

Discover the relationship between precipitation and topography.
Download and convert images from the Internet using Netscape and GIFConverter (or Paint Shop Pro).
Locate and use "How Far Is It?" site on the WWW to accurately determine distances on images they have saved.
Calibrate and use Scion Image (PC) or NIH image (Mac) to produce accurate Precipitation Plot Profiles and Elevation Plot Profiles from saved images.
Print and use the Plot Profiles to search for a relationship between elevation and precipitation.
Have students make prediction of precipitation values when given an elevation profile.
Have students make prediction of elevation values when given precipitation profile.

Activity:

(You should print out the student's pages and hand out to students before the activity begins. These pages contains all necessary instructions to complete the activity.)

1. Download the TIFF topographic image for the specific location you are interested in. These images provided courtesy of: (company name and location)

Montana: TIFF gif	Idaho: TIFF gif
California: TIFF gif	Arizona: TIFF gif

2. Download the TIFF precipiation image for the same location as the topographic image you saved back in step 1. (save images by using the method described in step 1.) The original gif images, produced by the Oregon Climate Service, are also provided.

1) Arizona: TIFF gif	2) N. California: TIFF gif	3) S. California: TIFF gif	4) Idaho: TIFF gif
5) Minnesota: TIFF gif	6) Montana TIFF gif	7) Nevada: TIFF gif	8) North Dakota: TIFF gif
9) Oregon: TIFF gif	10) Utah: TIFF gif	11) Washington: TIFF gif	12) Wisconsin: TIFF gif

4. Choose two easy to identify points on the topographic image, such as state boundaries (this is for accurate distance determination to use with NIH Image).

5. Go to the "How Far Is It" site on the WWW and determine distance in kilometers (this is a great site to bookmark).

Here's how to Determine the Distance:

You will use this distance to set the scale in NIH image (or Scion Image) so you will get accurate results.

6. Start NIH Image. Open TIFF topographic image and TIFF precipitation image. Use distance from "How Far Is It" to calibrate NIH image.

Here's how to Calibrate the Image:

Now you can make accurate distance measurements on your image and they will be on your Plot Profiles.

7. Using the topography map image in NIH Image, generate a Plot Profile of the elevation.

Here's how to generate a Plot Profile of the Elevation:

This is a profile of the elevation, with the linear distance in kilometers printed on the x axis.

8. Use the distance from "How Far Is It" to calibrate the precipitation image in NIH Image, so the two Plot Profiles have the same linear scale (be sure the precipitation image is open in NIH Image).

Here's how to set the Plot Profiles to the Same Linear Scale:

Now you can make accurate distance measurements on your image and they will be on your Plot Profiles.

9. Using the precipitation map image in NIH Image, generate a Plot Profile of the precipitation.

Here's how to plot the Precipitation Profile:

10. Carefully observe the elevation and precipitation profiles. Are there any relationships between elevation and precipitation? If so what are they? Write these at the bottom of the profile plots.

Assessment and Extension Ideas:

1. Students given maps with two locations indicated. They use Internet ("How Far Is It" site) to determine distance in units desired by instructor.

2. Students convert images from original format to TIFF format and open them in NIH image. (3-5 images)

3. Students given Plot Profile of precipitation and asked to generate hypothesized elevation profile.

4. Students given Plot Profiles of elevation and asked to generate hypothesized precipitation profile.

5. Students use outcomes from 1 & 2 above to generate accurate elevation and precipitation plot profiles of instructor defined image region.

6. Go to the PRISM site on the WWW. This is the Oregon Climate Service site where the precipitation maps above were gathered. Choose: Precipitation, then download a state image not used above. Also download the topographic image for that state as in step 1. (save images by using the method described in step 1.) In order to use these images, the following must be done:

The image must be converted to a TIFF format by opening them with GIFConverter (or Paint Shop Pro) and then saving them as TIFF files. (be sure to label them so you remember what the image is!!)
The county lines must be removed from the images using a macro called "remove black lines". A macro is a small program that performs a specific task in NIH Image.
The Precipiation index values may need adjustment in order to analyze them; to accomplish this, another macro must be used called "change values".

Ask your teacher for instructions on how to perform these steps.

7. Find other sites on the web that have topographic images of other states. Use these images to perform analyses. (save images by holding the mouse button down, then choosing: "Save this image". It will save them as GIF or JPEG; by using GIFConverter or Paint Shop Pro, you can convert the images to TIFF format so they can be used by NIH image for the activity.)