Applications of computer graphics to the visualization of meteorological data

The need to visualize huge amounts of numerical data is exemplified in the field of meteorology, where measurements of many atmospheric parameters are routinely taken over large geographical areas for the purpose of monitoring and predicting weather. Computer graphics has provided and will continue to offer powerful tools to meet this visualization challenge, principally in three areas: first, efficient graphics algorithms for displaying the data; second, novel special-purpose graphics hardware; and third, interactive techniques for graphically manipulating the data at close to video rates. This paper reviews past and current uses of computer graphics for gaining insight from measured or modelled meterological data.