Earth ID: 3413

Towers in the Tempest

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on May 10, 2007

This visualization won Honorable Mention in the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge in September 2007. It was also shown during the SIGGRAPH 2008 Computer Animation Festival in Los Angeles, CA. 'Towers in the Tempest' is a 4.5 minute narrated animation that explains recent scientific insights into how hurricanes intensify. This intensification can be caused by a phenomenon called a 'hot tower'. For the first time, research meteorologists have run complex simulations using a very fine temporal resolution of 3 minutes. Combining this simulation data with satellite observations enables detailed study of 'hot towers'. The science of 'hot towers' is described using: observed hurricane data from a satellite, descriptive illustrations, and volumetric visualizations of simulation data. The first section of the animation shows actual data from Hurricane Bonnie observed by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft. Three dimensional precipitation radar data reveal a strong 'hot tower' in Hurricane Bonnie's internal structure. The second section uses illustrations to show the dynamics of a hurricane and the formation of 'hot towers'. 'Hot towers' are formed as air spirals inward towards the eye and is forced rapidly upwards, accelerating the movement of energy into high altitude clouds. The third section shows these processes using volumetric cloud, wind, and vorticity data from a supercomputer simulation of Hurricane Bonnie. Vertical wind speed data highlights a 'hot tower'. Arrows representing the wind field move rapidly up into the 'hot tower, boosting the energy and intensifying the hurricane. Combining satellite observations with super-computer simulations provides a powerful tool for studying Earth's complex systems. The complete script is available here . The storyboard is available here . There is also a movie of storyboard drawings with narration below.

This animation combines the first two sections of the narrated piece above. It begins with NASA's fleet of satellites, shows observed data from the TRMM satellite, and then displays NCAR meoscale model data of Hurricane Bonnie.

This is the section two of the full movie that explains the dynamics of wind and energy inside of a hurricane. This movie contains audio.

Air picks up energy from the warm ocean through evaporation and releases it in the hurricane through condensation

Wind speed changes between the fierce eye wall and relatively calm winds in the eye can spin up intense vortices

Step zero of the simulation shows the low level winds, represented as arrows, rising quickly in the updraft (orange region).

Fifteen minutes later, the updrafts (orange) have moved with the winds. Notice the red arrows which show the low level winds caught in the storm's updrafts.

The winds and updrafts continue to change. The green circles are 50 km, 100 km, 150 km, and 200 km from the center of the simulation.

This animation is the video from section two of the full movie which illustrates the dynamics of a hurricane and the formation of Hot Towers.

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
James W. Williams (GST): Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Marte Newcombe (GST): Animator
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Visualizer
Helen-Nicole Kostis (UMBC): Animator
Stuart A. Snodgrass (GST): Video Editor
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Narrator
Scott Braun (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Randall Jones (GST): Project Support
Joycelyn Thomson Jones (NASA/GSFC): Project Support
Kevin Mahoney (CSC): Project Support
John Jacobi (GST): Project Support
Michael Starobin (HTSI): Writer
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Writer
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Writer
Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Writer
Scott Braun (NASA/GSFC): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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Mission:
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission - TRMM

Data Used:

TRMM/VIRS

08/22/1998 15Z-21Z

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TRMM/PR

08/22/1998 15Z-21Z

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Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5)/MM5

Model - PSU/NCAR

Model dataset from Penn State and The National Center for Atmospheric Research

http://met.psu.edu/tropical/charm/

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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of these series:
TRMM 3D Hurricanes
Narrated Movies
Goddard Shorts

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
SVS >> Model Data
SVS >> iPod
SVS >> Edited Feature
SVS >> Copenhagen
DLESE >> Narrated
SVS >> Voice Over Talent
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0