Animated Graphics in Meteorological Research and Presentations

For the past two years, the authors have been involved in the production of computer-animated movies at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The computer- generated frames are high-quality graphs of two- and three-dimensional variables featuring trajectories, contour lines, shading patterns, or three-dimensional surfaces (viewed in perspective). The original application was for comparing the FGGE dataset motion fields with satellite film loops. Applications have broadened to include model-generated data. Computer animation is particularly useful for efficiently previewing and presenting large quantities of data. Experiments with stereo images have also been made.