FACILITY for OCEAN / ATMOSPHERE
MODELING and VISUALIZATION
• Application of Interactive Multi-Dimensional
Visualization in Regional Climate Modeling
Ray Burton,George Pouliot, Liqiang Sun, Fredrick H. M. Semazzi
North Carolina State University
Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Raleigh, North Carolina
& Filippo Giorgi
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, Colorado
Corresponding author's address: Dr. F. H. M. Semazzi.
North Carolina State University
Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8208
Electronic-mail address: fred_semazzi@ncsu.edu
Telephone: (919) 515-1434.............Fax: (919) 515-1683
An interactive information and processing system is being developed as an
integral part of an experimental climate prediction system for the tropical
regions.
In the present phase of this work, we are focusing on the region of
Eastern Africa. Later the system will be applied to several other regions over
the tropics.
Numerical Model Component:
The center piece of the numerical modeling component is a Regional Climate model
developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The model uses the Mercator conformal projection, with a domain size
of 5580 km x 3700 km, centered at 31 E, 4S, and horizontal grid spacing of 60
km.
At this resolution, the main features of the bottom topography are well
resolved.
The simulation period is October-December 1988, and the model-driving
initial and lateral boundary conditions are taken from ECMWF data.
Prior to performing the experimental forecasts and further sensitivity simulations, a
number of model integrations have been conducted to investigate the sensitivity
of the model performance on variations in the formulation of the following
processes; cumulus convection, radiative transfer, land-atmosphere
interaction, boundary layer physics, and the lateral boundary forcing.
Interactive user interface:
Simultaneous display of multi-dimensional climate
data sets continues to play an increasing role in decision and policy
development.
IBM Data Explorer (DX) visualization software interface is
being used to provide options for the user in the form of easy-to-use widgets,
such as buttons, dials, type-in boxes, etc.
This interactive graphical user interface provides an easy way to maneuver
through the multi-dimensional databases and selection of the desired files for
viewing.
It can be used to hide the details of file storage from the modeler so
that there is no longer need to explicitly request files to be loaded from location
of storage.
One of the highlights of this system is an interactive fly-through of the
camera making a flight loop around Eastern Africa.
The close up during the flight makes it possible to examine the multi-dimensional
data in great detail and yet retain the benefit of covering a large geographic
region along the path.
The range of data sets that may be displayed include, temperature, winds,
rainfall, land use, water surfaces and topographic features.
North Carolina State University