Three-Dimensional Cloud Visualization Based on Satellite Imagery

Abstract

This thesis presents three dimensional visualizations of cloud scenes created with scientific visualization software implemented on high-performance graphics workstations. Cloud scenes are constructed for four separate cases, consisting of low stratus clouds off the California coast, stratus over the Great Plains, convective cumulus over the Gulf Coast region and Hurricane Andrew as it crossed southern Florida. The user interacts with the cloud scenes, on the computer screen, allowing the clouds to be studied from different perspectives. Procedures have been modified to integrate satellite information with sounding data to construct cloud tops. Techniques have been developed to integrate gridded surface observations with topography data to construct cloud bases with varying heights. Cloud bases determined in this manner are a more realistic representation than previous methods of using a constant height for all cloud bases in the cloud scene.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA269318

Entities

People

  • Kevin L. Stone

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Clouds
  • Computer Graphics
  • Computers
  • Cumulus Clouds
  • Data Visualization
  • Geography
  • Ground Level
  • Meteorology
  • Oceans
  • Rocky Mountains
  • Stratus Clouds
  • Terrain
  • Three Dimensional
  • Topography
  • Two Dimensional
  • Video Tapes

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Computer Vision.

Technology Areas

  • Space