Demos

Desktop App Screenshot
Desktop App

source code
September 2015
Newer version of the volume rendering.
iPad Fly Screenshot
iPad Fly

source code
July 2015
Fly around with your iPad.
60 levels Screenshot
60 levels

source code
July 2015
Displaying 60 flat levels instead of volume rendering.
Initial volume rendering approach Screenshot
Initial volume rendering approach

source code
June 2015
First version of the volume rendering.
Stereoscopic (google cardboard) Screenshot
Stereoscopic (google cardboard)

source code
August 2015
First version of the volume rendering.

Project Description

Ever wonder what it’s like to be inside a computer model? Well we did, so we’re working hard to visualise our model data as a 3D environment, so you can fly through the atmosphere created by the models, and explore it more intuitively.

Imagine being able to hover high in the sky and watch blobs of hot air rise from the ground like a lava lamp and see them grow into raging thunder clouds. Or imagine watching air slosh around the earth, creating wind. We have data that simulates this. Lots of it. Now we want to be able to really see it.

The Met Office runs weather and climate models every day on its super computer, generating vast quantities of data. A model like this is in essence just a computer program which solves a set of physics equations (like this one).

When these fundamental equations are included in the model, they naturally start to create weather. That’s a really important point - the model isn’t told what “a storm” is or what “clouds” look like, they just happen in a model that knows about basic physics. It creates another version of the world.

Related blog posts

Apr 11, 2016 - A Modern Approach to Data Compression
Dec 1, 2015 - The end of project one
Nov 27, 2015 - Project One: A Retrospective
Oct 5, 2015 - Bending video codecs to our will
Oct 1, 2015 - Building with Kubernetes
Jul 16, 2015 - 3D weather: an update
May 21, 2015 - I'm flying without wings
May 19, 2015 - Going live!
May 19, 2015 - Faster, smoother, set in motion
May 19, 2015 - Our mini hack-day at MozSpace
Apr 30, 2015 - The power of clouds
Apr 14, 2015 - Experience the weather without getting wet!
Mar 24, 2015 - I've spent all week pretending to be a beam of light