Visualization of Auroral Phenomena
Date
2005-09-22
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Abstract
Aurora borealis and Aurora australis are light emissions due to
energized electrons originating in the Sun. As part of the dynamic processes
in the Sun solar flares are created. These flares create plasma forming the
so-called solar wind. When the solar wind interacts with the Earth s magnetic
field it distorts the field and forms a type of bow-shock compressing the
field sunwards and elongating the field on the opposite side of the Sun. The
interface between the solar wind and the Earth s magnetic field is called the
magnetopause and the interior of the distorted field, the magnetosphere. The
auroral phenomena, or the so-called Northern Lights and Southern Lights, are
night sky light shows resulting from the channeling of energized electrons in
Earth s magnetosphere into the upper atmosphere. The aim of this paper is to
use non-photorealistic rendering techniques to visualize these phenomena. In
this paper we describe a new approach to visualize these phenomena using a
pipeline of procedures processing simulated or real scientific auroral data.
The pipeline involves particle decimation, 3D surface extraction, MR filter
applications, and isocurves extraction. Alternative nonphotorealistic
rendering techniques are also introduced. A rendered sequence of images is
provided illustrating the result.
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Computer Science