“Visualization of an F3 Tornado Within a Simulated Supercell Thunderstorm” by National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Conference:
- SIGGRAPH 2005 More animation videos from SIGGRAPH 2005:
SIGGRAPH Video Review:
Track:
- 16
Title:
- Visualization of an F3 Tornado Within a Simulated Supercell Thunderstorm
Length:
- 1:30
Director(s):
Company / Institution / Agency:
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Description:
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications collaborated with the National Severe Storms Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to create this simulation and visualization of tornado genesis.
The simulation recreates a supertwister similar to one that ripped through Manchester, South Dakota, in June 2003. The initial condi-tions were “seeded” with recorded pre-storm physical conditions near Manchester. The digital thunderstorm simulates the actual phys-ical eruption and growth of the deadly tornado.
Visualization feature extraction algorithms locate tracer particles at critical points in the evolution. Derivative stream tubes track the motion of these virtual weightless particles and show airflow geome-try in and around the tornado. Stream tubes are orange when rising and blue when falling. The tornado is represented as spheres rising in the updraft and colored by pressure. The tilting cones represent wind speed and direction at the ground plane and show the interac-tion of warm and cold air around the developing tornado.
The second counter-rotating satellite tornado was not observed in Manchester; however, this phenomenon has been infrequently recorded by storm chasers. The visualization extracts the satellite tornado though it was a surprise to the scientists who developed the simulation model.
Software:
Visualization software: NCSA custom Maya plug-ins, NCSA trajectory server, NCSA data representations and transforms, VTK;
Simulation software: WORF atmospheric science community code, customized design by NOAA
Additional Contributors:
Directors: Robert Patterson, Donna Cox, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Producers: Donna Cox, Robert Patterson, Stuart Levy
CONTRIBUTORS
Donna Cox – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Robert Patterson – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Stuart Levy – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Alex Betts – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Matthew Hall – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Lorne Leonard – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Robert Wilhelmson – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Mathhew Gilmore – ATMOS-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Louis Wicker – NOAA
Glen Romine – ATMOS-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lee Cronce – ATMOS-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Mark Straka – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
