Communications of the ACM
Taming Oceans of Data With New Visualization Techniques
A new video animation demonstrates the power of data visualization techniques to make sense of vast amounts of information.
Credit: Nick Donnoli/Princeton Office of Communications
Princeton University researchers say they have transformed complex modeling data of the global ocean into an animated movie that shows how the Earth's heating and cooling system changes over time.
They note the simulation's resolution is 6 million pixels.
The team adapted the results of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's climate models, which incorporate weather conditions collected from ground stations and satellites. The model calculates the temperature and salinity of the ocean using supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
The Princeton team made the video animation look more realistic by incorporating U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite data of the changing colors of the terrain to show typical seasonal changes.
The researchers say one challenge involved determining how to combine different types of computer processors to work on the task.
They believe data visualization will make it easier to comprehend the affects of salinity on the ocean heat engine, spot trends, and identify mistakes.
The team's techniques could be applied to other complex datasets that change over time, says Eliot Feibush, head of the Princeton Visualization Consortium.
From Princeton University
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