Geovisualization of tropical cyclone behaviour in the South Pacific

Abstract

A combination of computational power, dynamic graphics and geographical information system (GIS) packages creates a powerful platform for advanced visualization tools to explore complex geographical phenomena in an interactive computer environment - known as geovisualization. Geovisualization is a relatively new computer-based approach that refers to a set of methods and techniques to support geospatial data analysis through the use of four-dimensional (4D), multi-variable and interactive visualization. In this paper, we illustrate and discuss the value of several spatialization techniques that are used to perform analysis of spatial structures of climatic and meteorological elements, especially through the geovisualization of characteristics and behaviour of tropical cyclones in the South Pacific Ocean. Preliminary findings are encouraging, allowing patterns and dependencies between chosen cyclone features to be identified, in turn indicating the enormous potential of geovisualization for analysing multi-variate spatial attributes within large tropical cyclone datasets. © The Geological Society of London 2012.