Our students learn the basic principles governing the solid earth, the atmosphere and the oceans and their applications through a new Earth Systems Science (ESS) curriculum. Modern computers and software are an integral part of this learning. Consequently, we have been developing a computer laboratory to integrate new technologies in our teaching and research.
The laboratory consists of Unix and Windows hosts and clients, located in two separate rooms which are connected via an ethernet network. A Unix (Solaris2.x) host runs McIDAS-X and TeraScan applications; the Windows clients (typically a Pentium II with 128 MB RAM) use MicroImages X Server to run the McIDAS-X application. Thus, students can work simultaneously in the Windows and Unix environments. Other software available on the Windows PCs includes Windows-based Internet, editing, and spreadsheet applications, and image analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) software (ARCVIEW and MAPINFO). A PC and LCD data projector is used in a nearby classsroom to display information from the laboratory to enhance student classroom learning.
The computer laboratory is a central feature of the Department's junior-level course "ESS: Global Modeling and Data Bases" as well as a showpiece of the Science Division. Students in the ESS course utilize the laboratory to collect, analyze and interpret remotely-sensed data as individual class projects; for example, one student successfully compared the diurnal skin-temperature of the earth's surface with nearby meteorological measurements. Further, a current graduate student research project is combining McIDAS radar data and NOAA-HYSPLIT trajectory data from the Internet in the ARCVIEW program to determine how long an air parcel remains in precipitation. The laboratory also supports the New York City Schools teacher-training project "WeatherWatch".
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