Using a LIC-like FlowVis Technique to Visualize Hurricanes

Wu, K., Zhang, S., Amburn, P., & Moorhead, R. J. (2009). Using a LIC-like FlowVis Technique to Visualize Hurricanes. IEEE Visualization Conference 2009. Atlantic City, NJ.

We present a novel method to produce Pseudo-LIC images with image quality comparable to LIC and noticeable speedup over fast LIC. First, evenly-spaced streamlines are rendered with varying thicknesses based on the spacing between adjacent streamlines and the periodic intensities to produce LIC-like dense texture. Further, the algorithmic performance is increased by generating multiple sub-streamlines from a single streamline. The directional information is enhanced by discriminating against the neighboring streamlines. We apply this fast LIC-like technique to visualize Hurricane Lili’s rapid weakening.