Interactive 3-D visualization for rapid exploration of numerical weather prediction data – recent updates to Met.3D

Visualization is an important and ubiquitous tool in the daily work of atmospheric researchers and weather forecasters to analyse data from simulations and observations. Visualization research has made much progress in recent years, for instance, with respect to techniques for ensemble data, interactivity, 3-D depiction, and feature-detection. Met.3D is an open-source research software aiming at making novel interactive, 3-D, feature-based, and ensemble visualization techniques accessible to the meteorological community (code repository, conda package, and documentation available at https://met3d.wavestoweather.de). Since its first public release in 2015, Met.3D has been used in multiple visualization research projects targeted at atmospheric science applications, and has evolved into a feature-rich visual analysis tool facilitating rapid exploration of atmospheric simulation data. The software is based on the concept of “building a bridge” between “traditional” 2-D visual analysis techniques and interactive 3-D techniques powered by modern graphics hardware. It allows users to analyse data using combinations of feature-based displays (e.g., atmospheric fronts and jet streams), “traditional” 2-D maps and cross-sections, meteorological diagrams, ensemble displays, and 3-D visualization including direct volume rendering, isosurfaces and trajectories, all combined in an interactive 3-D context.

Met.3D has in recent years been advanced within the German research projects “Waves to Weather (W2W)” and “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)”. In this presentation, we will present the current state of the Met.3D software and discuss recent updates we consider beneficial for the weather forecasting community, including use of open forecast data and interactive visual analysis of forecast 3-D cloud fields and other volumetric data.