A Unique Brand of Video
Electron Density---Space physics
doctoral student Sergei Maurits produced this colorful animation to
help demonstrate the progression of electron density in the
ionosphere in the new Visualization Laboratory on the second floor of
the Geophysical Institute.
Researchers who want to produce high-quality videos of hard-to-picture phenomena can use the new Visualization Laboratory on the second floor of the Geophysical Institute to analyze and display data.
VHS versions of the colorful videos produced in the lab also can be used for demonstrations to colleagues, for display at conferences, or for school presentations. The lab contains an Onyx server and four Indigo workstations provided by the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center and is managed by Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Amanda Lynch.
Graduate student Sergei Maurits, who was one of the first to produce a video at the Visualization Lab, uses the colorful animation to help demonstrate the progression of electron density in the ionosphere. As a space physics doctoral candidate, much of Maurits' research is accomplished on the computerized workstation in his office. The video enables him to show his work to colleagues who live outside Fairbanks.
The memory available with the video server in the lab also allows Maurits to produce long, high-resolution animations that aren't possible on his workstation. The animated model of polar-region ionospheric plasma density and dynamics Maurits produced at the lab is composed of more than 1,000 still frames, for example, while his powerful workstation can animate only up to 200 frames at once.
Using the advanced techniques available at the lab, Maurits is able to stop or slow down the animation when he wants to explore data in detail, a technique that has enabled him to trace the origin of numerous ionospheric features. "It provides a new dimension in the understanding of time-dependent processes," he said.
Mastering the use of the Visualization Lab takes time, but the rewards are great. "I've found it invaluable for my work," said Lynch, whose research includes global climate change modeling. Lynch, Senior Systems Analyst Rick Guritz, and geophysics doctoral graduate student Craig Searcy are available to provide user training and access to the lab.