V6 N1 Paper 4
Annals of the MS in Computer Science and Information Systems at UNC Wilmington
Spring 2012

Visualization of the SPURS Experiment using Google Earth  

Frederick Bingham

Committee

Bryan Reinicke (chair)
Ron Vetter
Douglas Kline

Abstract

SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study) is a multi-investigator oceanographic experiment to be carried out in the North Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of (25°N, 38°W) in the year between August 2012 and September 2013. The purpose is to study the salinity maximum region of the North Atlantic and to understand the processes that maintain it. The experiment requires intercalibration of many salinity sensors on many different platforms to obtain an experiment-wide accuracy of about 0.1. Before the experimental assets go into the water there is a need to simulate the intercalibration process and make sure that there will be enough encounters between instruments to properly compare them. Accompanying this simulation is a need for visualizing the progress of the experiment. To this end, a visualization of the simulated experiment was created from historical float and drifter data, projected ship tracks, mooring locations and glider paths. These data were visualized using Google Earth. Added to the visualization were locations and times where instruments came close enough in space and time (~10 km, 1 hour) to be compared to each other. A total of 65 drifters, 25 floats, 2 ships, 3 gliders and 3 moorings were included in the visualization. These instruments came into proximity with each other about 6,000 times during the visualized experiment providing a rich dataset for understanding the intercalibration process.

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Recommended Citation: Bingham, F., Reinicke, B, Vetter, R., Kline, D. (2012) Visualization of the SPURS Experiment using Google Earth . Annals of the Master of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems at UNC Wilmington, 6(1) paper 4. http://csbapp.uncw.edu/data/mscsis/full.aspx.

V6 N1 Paper 4
Annals of the MS in Computer Science and Information Systems at UNC Wilmington
Spring 2012