VAPOR: A Visualization Package Tailored to Analyze Simulation Data in Earth System Science
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National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA
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Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Atmosphere 2019, 10(9), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090488
Received: 22 July 2019
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Revised: 19 August 2019
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Accepted: 21 August 2019
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Published: 25 August 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation and Visualization of Severe Weather)
Visualization is an essential tool for analysis of data and communication of findings in the sciences, and the Earth System Sciences (ESS) are no exception. However, within ESS, specialized visualization requirements and data models, particularly for those data arising from numerical models, often make general purpose visualization packages difficult, if not impossible, to use effectively. This paper presents VAPOR: a domain-specific visualization package that targets the specialized needs of ESS modelers, particularly those working in research settings where highly-interactive exploratory visualization is beneficial. We specifically describe VAPOR’s ability to handle ESS simulation data from a wide variety of numerical models, as well as a multi-resolution representation that enables interactive visualization on very large data while using only commodity computing resources. We also describe VAPOR’s visualization capabilities, paying particular attention to features for geo-referenced data and advanced rendering algorithms suitable for time-varying, 3D data. Finally, we illustrate VAPOR’s utility in the study of a numerically- simulated tornado. Our results demonstrate both ease-of-use and the rich capabilities of VAPOR in such a use case.
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Keywords:
scientific visualization; interactive data analysis; support for Earth System Science; graphical user interface-based cross-platform application
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MDPI and ACS Style
Li, S.; Jaroszynski, S.; Pearse, S.; Orf, L.; Clyne, J. VAPOR: A Visualization Package Tailored to Analyze Simulation Data in Earth System Science. Atmosphere 2019, 10, 488. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090488
AMA Style
Li S, Jaroszynski S, Pearse S, Orf L, Clyne J. VAPOR: A Visualization Package Tailored to Analyze Simulation Data in Earth System Science. Atmosphere. 2019; 10(9):488. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090488
Chicago/Turabian StyleLi, Shaomeng, Stanislaw Jaroszynski, Scott Pearse, Leigh Orf, and John Clyne. 2019. "VAPOR: A Visualization Package Tailored to Analyze Simulation Data in Earth System Science" Atmosphere 10, no. 9: 488. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090488
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