This NASA Video Shows the Power of a Typhoon from Space

NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) has released a beautiful video of Earth depicting an unusual phenomenon.  The time-lapse simulation shows the earth from space over seven days in 2005 as a category-4 typhoon developed off the coast of China.  

NASA scientists used data from Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5), to depict the simulation’s volume-rendered clouds. The simulation takes a massive amount of computer power to achieve. Called  7km GEOS-5 Nature Run (7km-G5NR), the visualization produced petabytes of output and referenced nearly a terabyte of brickmap files to achieve the incredible results.

The SVS website says the goal of creating visualizations like these is to help provide the public with a more accurate picture of our planet.  Views like this can help people understand our role on the planet as well as give some insight into the work of NASA.  

They note "The SVS works closely with scientists in the creation of visualizations, animations, and images in order to promote a greater understanding of Earth and space science research activities at Goddard Space Flight Center and within the NASA research community."

The website has over Over 6,700 visuals ranging from explainer videos about the recent eclipse to a visualization of flying over a glacier in Greenland.  

NASA has worked hard in recent years to open up access to their work via sites like these as well as putting much of their archives online.  In a time when science news and myth get easily interchanged these open source resources are invaluable.

Via: The Mad Hatter ™