INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION OF EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE COMPUTATIONS

Computers have become essential tools for scientists simulating and observing nature. Yet despite their essential role, computers are also barriers to scientific understanding. Unlike hand calculations, automated computations are invisible and the relation between an algorithm's input and output is often not intuitive. The barrier between scientists and their computations can be bridged by techniques that make the internal workings of algorithms visible. This article describes two interactive systems that provide these capabilities to scientists. The Vis-5D system is widely used by scientists for interactively visualizing numerical models of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. It creates a virtual Earth environment into which users can reach with a mouse and move slices through the data grids, place seed points, and rotate and zoom their view. While Vis-5D is effective for visualizing simulations of the atmosphere and oceans, scientists also design and use a much broader class of algorithms that require more general visualization techniques. Vis-AD (Visualization for Algorithm Development) lets scientists define their own data organizations and abstract graphical spaces to support a broad class of algorithms.