The data visualizations produced here depict a weather pattern observed at Peachtree City in Georgia. Due to the size of the data set, initial visualization was difficult. However, with reduction of extraneous data, a usable amount of data was able to produce some interesting results, most notably in the area of animation and opening up the data by exagerating the altitude value.

Although Data Explorer provided ample means of portraying the data, the large size of the data files severely compromised many forms of interactivity. Certain means of visualizating the data were not feasible. Altering the shape and opacity of the glyphs and more complicated attempts at volume rendering were met with out-of-memory messages. With more work on the data (possibly using a LOD reduction algorithm) and a more complete grasp of Data Explorer, these challenges could most likely be overcome.

Not being a meteorogolist, there are undoubtedly ways in which the data could have been interpreted that I missed. However, I was left with a large number of questions concerning the nature of the phenomena taking place and the character of the device used to record the data. Chief amongst the lingering questions in my mind are:
- What is the actual time interval of each time step?
- What is the explaination for the large black spot in the middle of the data? If there is data missing is it important?
- How does one effectively reduce the dataset to allow for greated interactivity, particularly volume rendering?
- What questions should be asked about the phenomena before even approaching the visualization?
- Within a data set such as this, how does one track particles in order to interpret motion through the system?

Although I don't really think I answered any serious questions about the heavy weather being observed, the renderings I created represent a substantial personal learning experience into the nature and process of scientific visualization.

Performance Impact of Streaming Doppler Radar Data on a Geospatial Visualization System
Beth Plale, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
GIT-CC-01-07

Overview of the WSR-88D Doppler Radar System
National Weather Service, Louisville KY
Website

Dynamic Retrievals and Related Strategies
Tzvi Gal-Chen, University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology
David B. Parsons, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Website

Radar Meteorology
National Weather Service, West Virginia
Website