# Presentation: 447255

## VIRTUAL REALITY IN OCEANOGRAPHY

*Christopher W. Moore,NOAA/PMEL-JISAO/Univ. of Washington*
*Nancy N. Soreide, NOAA/PMEL*

- AOML Open House                     Maimi, FL - Jan 28th, 2002

**New Machines to Visualize Data**

- Supported by NOAA/HPCC

## Why Use 3-D?

- Perspective
- Relative Motion
- Stereo

## Perspective

- High frequency spikes in the bathymetry data are obvious in the 3D plot (right) and are obscured in the 2D plot above.
- Calculations of  bathymetry gradients to identify regions of internal tide generation would be impacted by these spikes in the bathymetry data.

- Bathymetry in Astoria Canyon offshore from the Columbia River outflow in Washington State, in 2D and 3D.

***Data courtesy of Robert Kamphaus, NOAA Vents Program***

## Relative Motion (Interaction)

- The ability to judge an object’s distance through the use of relative motion

## Stereographic Virtual Reality

***Courtesy of Al Hermann, NOAA/PMEL FOCI Project, under HPCC supported VRML project.***

- 3D, interactive virtual reality visualizations are not difficult for a scientist to create or to view, from the web or from the desktop, and the effect can be enhanced dramatically by including the capability of *stereographic* viewing.
- With a PC and a 99-cent pair of red/green sci-fi glasses, the spheres and vectors will pop out of the page in stereo, revealing the true 3D location of the fish, the steep slopes of the bathymetry, and the vertical motions near the submarine canyon.
- The images can be rotated, animated and zoomed.

- Fish larvae and velocity vectors in a submarine canyon, from a circulation  model of Pribolof Canyon in the Bering Sea. ***Use red/green glasses to see images on the right in stereo.***

***Courtesy of Al Hermann, NOAA/PMEL FOCI Project, under HPCC supported VRML project.***

- Stereo

- Stereo

## Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)

- VRML is a file format which allows users to access, navigate, explore environmental data in 3D on the Web
- ISO Standard - like HTML standard
- ASCII text (utf8) - readable
- simple syntax - easy to create

**FOR MORE INFO...**

- _[http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vrml](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vrml)_

## ImmersaDesk: Collaborative Virtual Environment

- A Next Generation Internet (NGI) Testbed

- The ImmersaDesk:
-   4’ x 5’ rear projecting screen
-   near immersive
-   1024 x 768 x 96 Hz
-   driven by SGI Onyx2
-   Two R12000 Processors
-   250 MHz
-   Infinite Reality Graphics

## How does it work?

- Projector & Screen housed in travel case
- PC gives Wand and Visor location info to SGI
- SGI renders scene to projector

## How does it work - cont’d...

- PC-driven sensor gets position
- PC sends position to SGI
- SGI renders stereo image relative to position

## Fisheries-Oceanography on the Immersadesk

- Fisheries-Oceanography (FOCI)
- Sitka, AK
- Dr. Al Hermann
- SCRUM model
- topography - blue
- salinity isosurface
- currents - white
- tracers - red

## Immersion works best

- “Scientific visualization, exploiting the brain’s natural pattern recognition ability, is the best means available for making sense of large, complex scientific datasets.”
- Animate

## Hydrothermal Vents on the IDesk

- Cave5d is Vis5d for the Cave/Immersadesk
- Dr. Bill Lavelle’s model output of a plume event

## Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab ImmersaDesk demo

- GFDL - predictive model for
- hurricane Floyd
- September 9-17th, 1999
- 135 mph winds

## Tsunami on the IDesk

- Hokkaido Tsunami Event:
- July 12, 1993
- Mw = 7.8
- Okushiri - off Hokkaido
- ~ 5 min “warning”
- Dr. Vasily Titov
- Tsunami Hazard Mitigation
- Movie

## Tools for Making I-Desk Demos

- Vis5D/Cave5D
- Ferret
- Matlab
- vGeo - VRCO
- IDL
- VTK/Java (VRML)

## ImmersaDesk Accomplishments:

**Several immersive worlds created ...**
**  ****PMEL:  FOCI, Vents, Tsunami, TAO**
**  ****GFDL:  hurricane Floyd **
**  ****UW/Oceanography Dept:  Indonesian through flow**
**  ****UW/JISAO : Turbulence Model**
**Meetings attended:**
**  ****Supercomputing ’99, Nov 13-19, 1999**
**  ****AGU 2000, Jan 24-28, 2000**
**  ****PMEL Open House, March 16-17, 2000**
**  ****Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Meeting, May 9-11, 2000**

## Conclusions

- Virtual Reality helps the scientist and the lay person understand complex datasets and relationships
- Web based Virtual Reality is widely accessible
- Virtual Reality can be viewed in Stereo

-  Web based Virtual Reality can be shared
-  Including interactions between multiple users across networks
-  People sharing virtual worlds can see, talk, and interact with one another
-  Faster network speeds available with the Next Generation Internet will facilitate sharing these Virtual Reality experiences

**http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vrml**

- Supported by NOAA/HPCC