Visualization of weather data is already widely used, but the current standard in meteorology is two-dimensional representations. According to the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, these simple visualizations make it difficult to study certain processes, such as the vertical formation of clouds over time.
For this reason, ETH researchers developed an approach that make it possible to visualize the formation and dynamics of clouds and air currents three dimensionally at high resolution. This allowed the researchers to visualize how clouds form over Germany and change over time. They also analyzed air currents to visualize how an air parcel rotates on its own axis or the distance it travels and at what speed.
The new visualizations simplify the classification of cloud formations because they can “reveal” clouds that are otherwise unobservable from satellites above and observers on the ground, explains ETH Zurich. And unlike today’s conventional 2D categorization, the new method can even reveal stacked cloud structures.
“The scientific value of our visualization likes in the fact that we make something visible that was impossible to see with existing tools,” said ETH student Noël Rimensberger.
The visualization of regions of turbulence or regions with strong updrafts and storm development could be of great interest to air traffic control or meteorologists. The researchers are now working to speed up the visualization process and make key structures in the data more visible.
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