Image of distant lightning with the word Visualization overlaid

link to Precipitation page

link to Modeling and Dynamics page

link to Visualization page

link to Sensor Development page

link to Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes homepage 		  Sophisticated display technology is required to analyze and understand the massive quantities of meteorological data being produced by satellite and other data collectionsystems, and from simulations from 3-dimensional models. As part of NASA's public out reach activities, the availability of such data sets via the Internet and World Wide Web is being expanded. This section describes the role of the Branch in this regard.


Public Use of Remote Sensing Data

  The Public Use of Remote Sensing Data (RSD) effort is composed of 20 projects funded by the NASA Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications (IITA) initiative, which establishes partnerships between government, private business and academia to promote the use of Earth and space science data over the Internet. Branch personnel play a key role in the management of the project.   The activities supported in this project are largely based on World Wide Web (WWW) servers on the Internet. The progress of these activities can be followed by watching the RSD server at:
http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd/ These projects support:
  • K-12 education
  • Life-long learning in museums, observatories, homes
  • Local/State governments
  • Emergency preparedness
  • Land-use planning
  • Resource management
  • Interactive TV
  Examples of some of the applications available on the Internet through RSD are shown in Figure 18.


The GLOBE Program

 Global; Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment. The GLOBE goals are to increase the environmental awareness of individuals throughout the world and to contribute to the better scientific understanding of the earth. GLOBE products will be used by science and school teams to validate their respective models and observations. Hence, key climatology parameters are reported daily by students world-wide. These parameters include maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, cloud clover, and soil moisture content.   The role of the branch, in collaboration with the Scientific Applications and Visualization Branch at Goddard, is to create daily visualizations of studend observations and reference data, then distribute those images via World Wide Web (http://globe.gsfc.nasa.gov/globe/).   The Branch has applied WWW technology in innovative ways to develop a graphical user interface for international users of any age and native language. Locally, the Branch has been working with the Prince Georges County (MD) school system and the Owens Science Center to bring GLOBE into the classroom. GLOBE will be enhanced to better serve the participating students and teachers. An example of the data available through the GLOBE program is shown in Figure 19 an analysis of maximum temperatures over North America on 22 May 1996 from reports by student observers. Visit the GLOBE homepage.


Visualization Research

  Terabyte-sized spatial data archives of satellite imagery assimmilated datasets, and model generated datasets are prevalent throughout NASA. The Interactive Image Spreadsheet (IISS) software environment developed at Goddard offers unprecedented capabilities for routinely manipulating, intercomparing and visualizing hundreds of megabytes of geophysical datasets. The IISS exploits a multidimensional spreadsheet organization, of cells and frames, for compactly arranging and browsing thousands of datasets, developing algorithms using a formula language, and maintaining these complex image relationships and products.   The versatility of the IISS is being used to prototype an EOSDIS testbed system for validating assimulated model and satellite global change data in cooperation with the Goddard Data Assimulation Office (DAO) and the University of Wisconsin's Space Science and Engineering Center. The DAO has successfully incorporated visualization tools as an important component of its scientific evaluation and system validation activities. Figure 20. illustrates a two-cell spreadsheet for examining DAO assimuated datasets. Cell A1 shows isosurfaces of latent heat release and surface wind streamlines in the TOGA COARE region. Cell B1 shows air parcel trajectories for the same dataset, relating to the interaction of the Somali jet with the onset of the Indian Monsoon.   The IISS provides tools for managing, analyzing and visualizing multisource, multisprectral datasets. Multisource geophysical datasets from satellites, aircraft instruments, ground-based radar, synoptic measurements and assimulated numerical model data can be readily intercompared. Support for up to 15 overlay planes enables ancillary data (like lightning events, maps, wind barbs, etc.) to be handled effectively. The capabilities of the IISS, in conjunction with high-performance graphics workstations, enable large image, map and remote sensing databases to be quickly and efficiently analyzed. The IISS has been effectively used for rapid quality control of datasets, animation of realtime weather data, prototyping and algorithm development, and understanding geophysical phenomena.