VISUALIZATION

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) will feature striking high-definition stereo visualizations of scientific phenomena ranging from the prediction of destructive weather to the exploration of the mysteries of black holes at Booth 1630 at SC05 (to be held in Seattle Nov. 12-18). The high-definition stereo visualization theater at NCSA’s booth incorporates two JVC HD2K projectors with 1920x1080 native resolution, D-ILA technology, and circular polarization for passive stereo. These components are all integrated into a portable enclosure with a 6-foot-wide screen, which was created by Visbox, Inc. This equipment will be used to display high-definition stereo visualizations created by NCSA’s scientific visualization experts, including: * an interactive three-dimensional visualization of an analysis of a collection of text documents driven by the D2K data mining software developed by the center’s Automated Learning Group * a virtual voyage from our sun through the Milky Way galactic center toward a massive black hole at the center of our galaxy; the scene is excerpted from the upcoming Denver Museum of Nature and Science ultra-high resolution digital dome show “Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity,” which will premiere in 2006. * a visualization of an F3 tornado within a simulated supercell thunderstorm that was developed in collaboration with atmospheric scientists at the University of Illinois. Using complex computational models, weather data recorded during an F4 tornado that devastated South Dakota with winds in excess of 200 mph, and NCSA high-performance cyber-resources, the team simulated the birth and development of a tornado, generating terabytes of data that the visualization team translated into an artistic, information-rich animation. * a visualization of a simulation of stratified fluid flow and derivative trajectory data by a scientist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Other displays in the NCSA HD theater will showcase simulations and visualizations created by researchers from the Center for Computation & Technology at Louisiana State University. In a project that hits close to home, LSU scientists Edward Seidel and Shalini Venkataraman will compare computational simulations of the strength and path of Hurricane Katrina generated by storm surge modeling to actual observations of the devastating storm, including storm surge measurements from sensors, GIS data from aerial mapping, and time-varying multi-spectral satellite images. Using flow visualization techniques, the researchers will show time-varying 3D wind fields and storm surges overlayed with large geospatial data from GIS and remote sensing sources. And turning from the Earth to the stars, Seidel and Werner Benger will show stereoscopic visualizations of curved space, using computer simulation to reproduce the strange visual phenomena which occur near the extremely powerful gravitational fields of black holes.