A Task-Driven Framework for Multiscale Ocean Flow Dynamics

Overview

KVL in collaboration with Prof. Ibrahim Hoteit's group built a visualization framework for studying internal waves in the Red Sea, combining high-resolution ocean simulation with interactive 3D exploration.

Internal waves carry energy and nutrients through the ocean and shape its biological productivity. Ocean scientists study them with high-resolution simulations on hybrid grids, which produce large three-dimensional datasets that are usually analyzed with command-line tools and little interactivity.

Working closely with the domain scientists, we designed a task-driven approach that reconstructs the hybrid-grid simulation output into continuous 3D volumes and explores them through a coordinated multi-view interface. In an evaluation with domain experts, the system helped reveal transverse wave propagation, energy transport pathways, and shoaling-driven mixing. The techniques and design principles also carry over to other multiscale, multivariate flow data on irregular grids.

The paper entitled “A Task-Driven Framework for Multiscale Ocean Flow Dynamics through Integrated Simulation and Visualization” by James Kress, Jithendra Nadimpalli, Shehzad Afzal, Sohaib Ghani, and Ibrahim Hoteit received a Best Paper Honorable Mention at IEEE VIS 2026 and can be accessed here.