Researchers led by the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a computer-based system to view, interrogate and analyze large observational data sets.

Data includes information from radar stations, severe weather detection software, high-resolution weather models, geographic information systems, satellites and aerial photography.

These sources will not only provide weather information, but also data on terrain, building locations and even human activities, such as rush-hour traffic. All of this data will be merged in a platform called the Virtual Geographic Information System (VGIS) previously developed by the project's lead researchers. The system will run on a personal computer and be viewed on a monitor or large-screen projection.

Weather researchers will use the visualization system to improve storm detection software used by forecasters. And the National Weather Service may eventually use the system to help decide whether to issue watches and warnings, explains one of the lead researchers, Nick Faust of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

"This system will improve weather forecasting in a number of ways," says the other lead researcher, Bill Ribarsky of the Georgia Tech College of Computing. "Ultimately, forecasters will be able to make decisions faster and more precisely.

"For example, they might see a storm here and make a precise prediction that it's going to affect this community in this way. Forecasters will be able to make more accurate predictions because they will have more information -- such as predicting a storm's path based on terrain information and information on human activities.

"If you have a storm at rush hour, there will be a different effect than if it occurs at night."

The visualization system and high-resolution weather models may help forecasters accurately predict general areas of severe weather up to six hours in advance, Ribarsky says. That much lead time could help emergency services personnel know how to respond.

Ultimately, predictions integrated with the visualization system could save lives, reduce injuries and save billions of dollars in lost products, equipment and time, Ribarsky adds.

The visualization system is a collaborative project funded by a National Science Foundation grant to Georgia Tech and the University of Oklahoma's Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies.

Initial prototyping work was funded by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency through the Georgia Tech Severe Storms Research Center (SSRC). The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Okla., is testing and evaluating the system, and also inserting the system's decision-support tools into NSSL severe weather detection software.

"This system will provide a rich trove of information for analysts and researchers," Ribarsky says. Researchers will not only be able to visualize information in a new way, they will also be able to merge and analyze multiple data sets to study similarities in storm structures in severe weather events.

For example, they may merge historical touchdown data from all tornadoes in a certain geographical area to help visually answer the climatological question about whether Georgia has a "tornado alley."

Also, researchers may be able to better understand the impacts of human activities on severe weather. For example, researchers could use the visualization system integrated with flood extent modeling to allow software predictions of the extent of a flood from a river overflowing its banks into a local area.

"Up to now, all we've been able to get is a flood height (that is, when a river will crest)," Ribarsky explains. "But that doesn't tell you anything about what might be flooded. We will be able to predict the extent of the flood -- what parts of the community may be affected, like whether a power plant or chemical plant might be flooded and convey the information to the public in an easily understood, graphical manner."

The flood-extent prediction capability of the visualization system is building on collaborative work between Faust and the Atlanta office of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

"What we're working on now is a tool that will help officials respond more quickly to severe weather," Faust says. "This visualization system will be very time-sensitive."

An initial version of the visualization system is already receiving north Georgia radar data via the SSRC, which gets its feed from the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Ga.

The data is processed by an NSSL severe weather software program that indicates storm signatures, and then automatically transferred to the visualization system for display.

Though the visualization system is focusing on north Georgia for now, it can be used for local, regional or even national forecasting if data and computing power are available.

Researchers are working now to integrate a high-resolution weather model, which can forecast conditions for areas as small as one to four square kilometers. Researchers expect to complete the project within two years.

"Once we have it all there, we will be able to show for the first time these dynamic volumes of information in this visualization system, basically as the data are received," Ribarsky says. "This has not been done in 3D before in a time-dependent format."

Faust adds that the ability to look at storms in three dimensions in real time will give researchers new insight into the 3D nature of storm development, and that information will result in better severe weather detection software. - By Jane M. Sanders

[Contact: Nick Faust, Bill Ribarsky, Jane M. Sanders]

24-Jul-2001