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
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