SUNPRISM: An approach and software tools for collaborative climate change research

Abstract

In order to simulate scientific models in various conditions climate change research involves using large sets of heterogeneous data. In many cases, for model interoperability a dataset from a given model or source needs to be transformed into a different data format required by a subsequent model or processor. This paper presents the SUNPRISM approach and software tools aimed at supporting collaborative scientific exploration via new capabilities for combining data transformations, model simulations, and output visualizations in application scenarios developed for climate change research. The SUNPRISM framework's defining characteristics are a visual object-based interface for scenario configuration, a workflow-based environment that allows code generation and dataflow scenario execution, and data visualization capabilities for 3D environments, including for immersive virtual environments such as CAVE. The paper describes the proposed approach and its supporting tools, the SUNPRISM Scenario Manager and the SUNPRISM Visualizer, and illustrates them on an application scenario in which data from the National Digital Forecast Database is retrieved and visualized in 3D. A brief comparison with related work and an outline of directions for future work are also included in the paper.