Hurricane Katrina NCSA NCAR

A hurricane research team at the Earth System Laboratory, led by Wei Wang, computed the evolution of the storm using a complex numerical weather prediction model. Running this mathematical model on the Bluefire supercomputer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research yielded terabytes of data, which Advanced Visualization Lab [AVL] then transformed into a striking animation of the 36-hour period when the storm is gaining energy over the warm ocean. Volume-rendered clouds show abundant moisture. Trajectories follow moist air rising into intense "hot tower" thunderstorms and trace strong winds around the eye wall; rapidly rising air is yellow, while sinking air is blue. The sun, moon, and stars show the passing of time. The visualization was created as part of a planetarium dome show called "Dynamic Earth". Scientific Simulation: NCAR Earth System Laboratory National Center for Atmospheric Research Wei Wang Ryan Torn Jimy Dudhia Chris Davis Scientific Visualization: Advanced Visualization Lab National Center for Supercomputing Applications University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Donna Cox Robert Patterson Stuart Levy Alex Betts Matthew Hall