Visualization of Model Results and Field Observations in Irregular Coastal Regions

Abstract

Accurate simulations of the circulation and transport of material substance in the coastal zones of the Great Lakes are needed to assess the impacts of such shoreline developments as drinking water intakes and sewage outfalls and diversions on water quality. It is almost impossible for the coastal modeller to develop or apply three-dimensional fluid dynamics models without having access to good visualization tools, which are a necessary step before model performance can be evaluated. The visualization package with rendering ability, Iris Explorer, has been used in a study of coastal exchange flow between Hamilton Harbour and Lake Ontario. Three-dimensional irregularly gridded output of coastal models is difficult to handle computationally. Novel extensions of the software written to visualize irregular three-dimensional and time-dependent data either from finite element models or from arrays of field instruments are described. A number of examples are provided which illustrate the benefits of advanced visualization methods and computer animation in interpreting three-dimensional mathematical model output and of the employment of these display tools in validating the models with extensive collections of field data.