A Task-Driven Framework for Multiscale Ocean Flow Dynamics through Integrated Simulation and Visualization
Authors
James Kress (KAUST), Jithendra Nadimpalli (KAUST), Shehzad Afzal (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), Sohaib Ghani (King Abdullah University of Science & Technology ), Ibrahim Hoteit (KAUST)
Presentation
- Session
- Making things visual in science and engineering
- Time
- Tuesday, Nov 10, 13:36 – 13:48 (US/Eastern) · session 13:00 – 14:30
- Location
- Hall Essex center
Keywords
Integrated Simulation–Visualization Framework; Spatiotemporal Analytics; Ocean Dynamics
Abstract
Internal waves are large-amplitude gravity waves that occur below the ocean surface and propagate along interfaces separating water layers of different densities. Understanding their generation, propagation, and evolution is essential, as these waves play a vital role in the ocean system by contributing to nutrient transport, biological productivity, and the transfer of energy across the ocean and continental shelf. Domain scientists use high-resolution numerical ocean models, to study internal-wave dynamics and associated coastal and nearshore processes on hybrid computational grids. These models generate large-scale, three-dimensional spatiotemporal datasets that capture internal wave flow behavior and interactions with multiple ocean variables. These datasets are generally analyzed using command-line tools with limited interactivity. To address these challenges, we in collaboration with domain scientists designed a task-driven visualization methodology for analyzing multiscale, multivariate flow data on hybrid grids. The framework incorporates a hybrid-grid volumetric reconstruction method, enabling continuous 3D analysis and a coordinated multi-view design that supports interactive exploration of complex flow structures. An insight-based evaluation with domain experts demonstrates that the system enables the identification of previously difficult-to-observe phenomena, including transverse wave propagation, energy transport pathways, and shoaling-driven mixing. Beyond the application domain, our contributions provide generalizable techniques and design principles for visual analysis of multiscale, multivariate flow data on irregular grids.
For Practitioners
Practitioners likely to be interested in this paper include simulation scientists, physical oceanographers, coastal and marine researchers, scientific visualization and visual analytics researchers, and developers of high-performance scientific computing workflows. It may also interest researchers working with multiscale, multivariate flow simulations on irregular or hybrid computational grids. Practitioners could apply the paper’s methods to transform layered simulation outputs into continuous 3D volumetric representations, develop coordinated multi-view analysis environments, and interactively examine complex flow structures. In particular, they could use the proposed cross-flow decomposition to separate transverse dynamics from the dominant background flow, thereby revealing propagation patterns and energy pathways that might otherwise remain obscured. The reconstruction, interactive slicing, magnitude-based filtering, and linked-view techniques could also be adapted to other simulation domains in which analysts currently rely on repetitive 2D plotting, manual cross-referencing, or disconnected visualization workflows. Ocean and coastal researchers could specifically use these methods to study wave generation, energy transport, shoaling, mixing, and interactions among flow, bathymetry, temperature, salinity, and density. These techniques may be particularly useful for analyzing high-resolution, complex flow structures in coastal and nearshore regions.