Extended Abstract (1.2M)9B.4
NASA precipitation data in virtual globes: moving beyond 2D representations
Owen A. Kelley, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD; and E. Stocker
In the past few years, a significant amount of NASA data has been formatted so that it can be displayed in Virtual Globes, but the vast majority of the formats have been two dimensional representations. Working with precipitation estimates from NASA and NOAA satellites, NASA Goddard researchers have been trying to go beyond 2D representations of precipitation data either by adding a time dimension or a third space dimension. The NASA Goddard website for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) now provides daily updates of Google Earth KML/KMZ files that give near realtime images of rainfall accumulations, rainfall anomalies, and flood potential on several time scales. The Precipitation Processing System (PPS) at NASA Goddard has also been prototyping near-realtime distribution of rainfall accumulation data on multiple time scales using tiff and world files. PPS has prototyped KMZ movies displaying monthly variation of precipitation and 3D KMZ representations of individual storms. PPS is also prototyping the distribution of precipitation data via the OpenGIS WMS protocol, which may permit WMS-enabled Virtual Globes to browse through a NASA-based multi-dimensional precipitation archive. These prototypes may be useful during the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM), which is a NASA/JAXA led international mission to configure a constellation of space-based radiometers. We seek suggestions of ways we can improve our prototypes and of new directions that we should explore.
Session 9B, Virtual Globe
Thursday, 24 January 2008, 1:30 PM-3:00 PM, 207
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