Simulated ocean surface boundary layer turbulence under Hurricane Irene (~9:30 UTC, August 28, 2011) entrains cold bottom water that cools the sea surface and weakens the hurricane as it makes landfall on the New Jersey continental shelf. Large-aspect-ratio coherent structures that modify the evolution of the mean sea-surface temperature are highlighted in a 2 km by 2…
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Present and Future Climate in a Global Model
This visualization shows a CESM1 model comparison between a present day (1990) and a future (2090) simulation using a business-as-usual or high emissions scenario, called RCP8.5. Clouds represent six-hourly time steps of total water vapor for one year. Technically speaking, this is the CESM1 model variable, TMQ, defined as the total precipitable water (vertically integrated)…
Read moreOcean impact on atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide
The ocean breathes: a map of oxygen and carbon dioxide variations in the atmosphere due to air-sea gas exchange, stirred by winds. The ocean absorbs CO2 and releases O2 in the summer hemisphere, primarily due to photosynthesis (and warming, for O2) at the surface; the reverse happens during winter when the surface cools and deep…
Read moreDeep Water Impact Ensemble Data Set
The Deep Water Impact Ensemble Data Set was generated from large simulations of asteroids crashing into the ocean. These simulations were run using various sizes of asteroids and angles of entry in order to study the aftermath of the impacts. The data set was the subject matter for the 2018 IEEE VIS SciVis Contest, held…
Read moreModelling The Indonesian Throughflow
Rising ocean temperatures have given rise to coral bleaching events at higher rates than have been seen in observed history. Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research are studying how effectively coral reef ecosystems can repopulate each other after bleaching events through a metric called Potential Connectivity. In this visualization, we observe a state…
Read moreCESM Decadal Prediction Large Ensemble
Forecasting decadal trends in the North Atlantic and Arctic Decadal climate predictions exhibit skill in retrospective predictions of observed multi-year trends in sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice fraction in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the Atlantic sector. The skill is largely attributable to realistic ocean initialization, but external radiative…
Read more1997 and 2015 El Niño Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies
A brief comparison of changes in sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies between the major El Niño event of 1997-98 and the El Niño event emerging in 2015. The visualization depicts data from the NOAA 1/4° daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST). The data are combined from sources such as satellites, buoy networks, and ships.…
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