Extended Abstract (2.9M)5.8a
Coupling of mesoscale weather models to business operations in utilizing visual data fusion
Lloyd A. Treinish, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY
In many industries weather conditions are a critical factor in planning business operations and making effective decisions. Typically, what optimization that is applied to these processes to enable proactive efforts utilize either historical weather data as a predictor of trends or weather forecasts of limited precision. Alternatively, numerical weather models operating at higher resolution in space and time with more detailed physics exist for short-term forecasting (i.e., a few days at the mesoscale) that offer greater precision and accuracy for a more limited region. Although such a model can be adapted for the specific three-dimensional geographic area and time-scale relevant to the aforementioned decision making, usually it is not. We are reporting on our current activities to couple specific business processes and mesoscale simulations. Part of the effort includes integration of focused display and interaction techniques, based upon work we presented earlier on visual data fusion. To enable effective assessment and appropriate decisions, focused visualizations must be designed to integrate business and weather model data, yet still be driven by user goals. Thus, the resultant visualizations may not show forecasts of weather phenomena directly but the derived properties, which are influenced by weather, and are of direct relevance to the decision maker or industry specialist. These efforts also include customization of the computational grid and model parameterization focused on the specific weather sensitivity of the business operation process in question. Results to be presented will include but not be limited to applications in transportation, agriculture and energy.
Supplementary URL: http://www.research.ibm.com/weather
Session 5, Energy Applications
Wednesday, 16 January 2002, 3:30 PM-5:30 PM
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