Weather Visualization
Weather visualization means the extraction of important information from large sets of measurement and prediction data, such as temperature maps, wind velocity fields, pressure data, cloud coverage, precipitation, etc., some of which vary with altitude. A crucial aspect of my work in this area involves the capture of dynamics features, rather than restricting to considering information at a fixed time only.
Most parts of this project are done for and in collaboration with meteomedia AG, one of the leading private weather forecast companies in Europe. Particular products include the Tagesthemen-Strömungsfilm, as well as cloud coverage and precipitation animations. The results of these projects, applied to the current global weather, can be seen on the website of Vigilance Meteo France.
| Visualization of wind data with flexible particles | |
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Since May 17th 2006, meteomedia AG produces the flow visualization movie, well known from the German news Tagesthemen, with the special tool ssflowvis, developed by Matthias Schäfer and Benjamin Seibold. A particular feature is efficient particle management. Without notice to the viewer particles are removed from clusters, as well as particles are inserted into holes and gaps. Also inflow and outflow boundaries are treated naturally. The particle management allows particles to live long, thus it can be efficiently visualized which paths air currents take. The particle visualization in action can be seen online for instance for the air currents over Europe, or the air currents over North America. | |
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| Sven Plöger presents the “new” Tagesthemen flow movie | A shorter, smaller and less detailed example of the flow movie |
| Smooth animation of cloud and precipitation data | |
Since August 10th 2006 the television weather forecast show Das Wetter im Ersten presents an animation of cloud movement for the next 36 hours. The forecast data is available in time resolution of 3 hours. The method ssclouds, developed by Matthias Schäfer and Benjamin Seibold, interpolates the between two images in such a way, that a smooth movement arises. A particular challenge is the correct treatment of clouds which flow in at boundaries. Multiple cloud layers are considered. A further extension is the application of this approach to the animation of rain and snow data. The combination of the cloud and precipitation movies in action can be seen online for instance for the clouds and precipitation over Europe, or the clouds and precipitation over North America. | |
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| Das Wetter im Ersten with the forecast cloud movie, presented by Alexander Lehmann | A shorter, smaller and less detailed example of the cloud movie |