Visualization and Analysis of Multi-terabyte Geophysical Datasets in an Interactive Setting with Remote Webcam Capabilities

Visualizing and analyzing datasets in the geosciences is becoming increasingly complicated as their volumes are growing explosively. This poses a challenging problem for researchers who must sift through terabytes of data to discover useful relationships inside the information. There is a great need for geophysicists to interactively explore their data sets. Conventional visualization systems lack adequate bandwidth and rendering capabilities necessary for the largest data sets. CAVE and Powerwall display devices are necessary for researchers to explore their data sets in an immersive setting. We describe a utilitarian system targeted specifically at the cost-effective interactive exploration of data sets tens of terabytes in size and harness this system for visualization and analysis of geophysical simulations. Webcams can be used as a steering device to track a local region of interest, which is useful for remote visualization of large data sets. This system will be employed as a web-service under the auspices of Narada-Brokering, while using webcam technologies to enable remote visualization for collaborating researchers. Webcams can be incorporated in a point-to-point network for rapid exchange of information and quickly announcing natural disasters, such as tsunamis, landslides and earthquakes.