Multimedia Gallery
RAFLES Model Results
This figure presents a virtual reality visualization of the RAFLES model results. RAFLES--an atmospheric, high-resolution large eddy simulation--was developed in part for National Science Foundation (NSF) grant DEB 04-53665. The visualization is performed using the Duke University Immersed Virtual Environment (DiVE) simulator (developed under NSF grant BCS 04-20632) that projects 3-D holographic images in a specialized viewing room.
The canopy is based on data from remote sensing of the Duke Forest in North Carolina. Canopy data--used for generation of the random virtual canopy in images--was obtained from Michael Wolosin and Jim Clark in the biology department at Duke, and gathered using remote sensing in an NSF-funded project under grant IIS 04-30693. The canopy top is presented as a green sheet and stems are brown lines. A vertical cross section of the domain is color coded for the vertical component of the wind where yellow and red are strong positive winds--for example, ejection events--and blue and white are negative winds, or sweep events. The full wind vectors are shown using arrows. Ejection events are organized, fast vortexes and can carry heavy seeds to high altitudes and consequently, facilitate long-distance dispersal. The canopy data that was used for the generation of the random virtual canopy images was obtained using remote sensing (Date of Image: 2006)
Credit: Gil Bohrer, Robert L. Walko, Rachael Brady and Roni Avissar; Duke University 2006
See other images like this on your iPhone or iPad download NSF Science Zone on the Apple App Store.
Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
Also Available:
Download the high-resolution TIF version of the image. (2.8 MB)
Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.