CROSS DRIVE: A New Interactive and Immersive Approach for Exploring 3D Time-Dependent Mars Atmospheric Data in Distributed Teams

Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
Gerndt, Andreas M.
•
Engelke, Wito
•
•
Vandaele, Ann C.
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Neary, Lori
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Aoki, Shohei
•
Kasaba, Yasumasa
•
Garcia, Arturo
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Fernando, Terrence
•
Roberts, David
•
CROSS DRIVE Team
Abstract
Atmospheric phenomena of Mars can be highly dynamic and have daily and seasonal variations. Planetary-scale wavelike disturbances, for example, are frequently observed in Mars' polar winter atmosphere. Possible sources of the wave activity were suggested to be dynamical instabilities and quasi-stationary planetary waves, i.e. waves that arise predominantly via zonally asymmetric surface properties. For a comprehensive understanding of these phenomena, single layers of altitude have to be analyzed carefully and relations between different atmospheric quantities and interaction with the surface of Mars have to be considered. The CROSS DRIVE project tries to address the presentation of those data with a global view by means of virtual reality techniques. Complex orbiter data from spectrometer and observation data from Earth are combined with global circulation models and high-resolution terrain data and images available from Mars Express or MRO instruments. Scientists can interactively extract features from those dataset and can change visualization parameters in real-time in order to emphasize findings. Stereoscopic views allow for perception of the actual 3D behavior of Mars's atmosphere. A very important feature of the visualization system is the possibility to connect distributed workspaces together. This enables discussions between distributed working groups. The workspace can scale from virtual reality systems to expert desktop applications to web-based project portals. If multiple virtual environments are connected, the 3D position of each individual user is captured and used to depict the scientist as an avatar in the virtual world. The appearance of the avatar can also scale from simple annotations to complex avatars using tele-presence technology to reconstruct the users in 3D. Any change of the feature set (annotations, cutplanes, volume rendering, etc.) within the VR is immediately exchanged between all connected users. This allows that everybody is always aware of what is visible and discussed. The discussion is supported by audio and interaction is controlled by a moderator managing turn-taking presentations. A use case execution proved a success and showed the potential of this immersive approach.
Coverage
48th DPS Annual Meeting for Division for Planetary Sciences
Start page
220.31
Conferenece
48th DPS Annual Meeting for Division for Planetary Sciences
Conferenece place
Pasadena, CA, USA
Conferenece date
16-21 October, 2016
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