What is the best way to structure a global cloud animation, newbie needs help Options

[chuckclark]

Hi all,
I got interested in global cloud patterns and the problem of viewing them on a map.
I wonder if those neatly segregated Hadley and Ferrel cells have any overarching patterns when biannual equinoctial transfers occur.
And I presume any such patterns would be more evident on a well chosen constant-scale natural boundary world map than on any conventional map projections.
Maybe not. Maybe hurricanes just slip up the cracks between Hadley Cells and atmospheric circulation on earth is essentially a local phenomenon. But, the curious side of me got the better.
So i got a commercially available screen backdrop (Earthdesk) that shows a map of Earth (standard projections only; I used simple cylindrical) with real-time cloud patterns, and over the course of last year's hurricane season, took screen shots and saved them.
Then I warped each screen shot into my constant-scale natural boundary format, a world map of Earth bounded by African and Asian continental divides, on which both polar circulations will be circular, Equatorial circulation will be linear, and the African-continent source of hurricanes as well as the teleconnected antipode (think Singapore) are both true shape.
So, I've got 20 frames like this one too large to post here
Each frame is 40 megs, which, in aggregate, is way too large for me to process. I suspect it is also way bigger than I need to make a decent animation.
For example, this is a really fine animation. But what are the pixel dimensions which it is built on? What format is it saved in?
What formats allow for full-screen viewing?
I've never made an animation before -- "lossy" and "dither" are new terms to me. What settings are best for cloud fidelity?
I have Photoshop CS 2 to work in.