GEOS Visualization And Lagrangian dynamics Immersive eXtended Reality Tool for Scientific Discovery (VALIXR)

Traditionally, scientists view and analyze the results of calculated or measured observables with static 1-dimensional (1-D), 2-D or 3-D plots. It is difficult to identify, track and understand the evolution of key features in this framework due to poor viewing angles and the nature of flat computer screens. In addition, numerical models, such as the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) climate/weather model, are almost exclusively formulated and analyzed on Eulerian grids with fixed grid points in space and time. However, Earth Science phenomena such as convective clouds, hurricanes and wildfire smoke plumes move with the 3-D flow field in a Lagrangian reference frame, and it is often difficult and unnatural to understand these phenomena with data on Eulerian grids. We propose to develop a scientific exploration and analysis mixed augmented and virtual reality tool with integrated Lagrangian Dynamics (LD) to help scientists identify, track, and understand the evolution of Earth Science phenomena in the NASA GEOS model. VALIXR will: - Enhance GEOS to calculate Lagrangian trajectories of Earth Science phenomena and output budget terms (e.g., momentum) and parcel attributes (e.g., temperature) that describe their dynamics - Enhance the NASA open source eXtended Reality (XR, i.e., AR and VR) tool, the Mixed Reality Exploration Toolkit (MRET) developed by the PI, to visualize and animate GEOS fields as well as initialize and track LD features (i.e., parcel trajectories) This project has wide applicability to the Earth Sciences, from analysis of smoke plumes moving around the globe, to organized convection in hurricanes, to eddies associated with the polar vortex, and more. VALIXR will provide Earth scientists: - Enhanced scientific discovery of key phenomena in the Earth system through the combination of advanced visualization and quantitative LD with NASA models and data - An immersive, interactive, and animated visualization of GEOS fields and particle trajectories to allow scientists to intuitively initialize LD for subsequent GEOS model runs - Intuitive initialization, manipulation and interaction with GEOS data and trajectory paths through the use of XR Leveraging the NASA open source MRET tool and integrating it with a generalized open-source point cloud system has huge applicability to any Earth Science domain. MRET provides an open-source foundation for collaborative XR with dispersed groups working together in a common 3D space that can combine DEM terrains, 3D engineering models and point clouds, including LIDAR data. This will enable the following benefits: - Visualizing enormous scientific point clouds as one dataset. Current XR tools for visualizing point clouds are deficient. Problems include losing precision; requiring all points to fit on the GPU; poor visual quality for data from multiple sources; and requiring commercial licenses. - Enabling collaboration. Remote collaboration is a powerful benefit of XR, allowing geographically separated scientists to work together and is particularly relevant given the emphasis on teleworking. - Improving Analysis. XR enables improved ways of looking at science data. For example, using another tool by the PI, astrophysicists examined eight nearby young moving star groups and found seven new likely disk-hosting members. None of these objects had been identified via clustering algorithms or other tools in the literature. - Improving Interaction. Not only does XR provide superior visualizations, but interaction is more intuitive. For example, if scientists need to specify a point in 3D space, traditionally this required specifying a point in three 2D coordinate systems (XY, XZ, and YZ) which is cumbersome. Specifying a location in a 3D environment is much easier as you just point at the location. This proposal will address the development of an Earth System Digital Twin that provides both a scientific discovery tool and a model analysis and improvement tool.

Advance Earth system science knowledge through the Identification, develop, and demonstrate innovative information systems technologies

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.