Dominic Branchaud¹, Dr Ming Feng², Beth Fulton², Matthew  Grace¹, Phillip  Grimmett¹, Nagida  Helsby-Clark¹, Edward  King², Emma  Krantz¹, Viveka  Weiley¹

¹CSIRO Data61, Eveleigh, Australia, ²CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, , Australia

In this presentation, we introduce a newly developed mixed reality (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality) dynamic visualisation tool for oceanography data – Dynamic Ocean Explorer. Dynamic Ocean Explorer is an interactive data visualisation and exploration tool for volumetric oceanography fields (temperature, salinity, ocean currents) and temporal evolutions, to provide users with an immersive experience in scientific discovery.

The current iteration of Dynamic Ocean Explorer is purposely built to provide an interactive visualisation of the 4-dimensional Bluelink ReANanlysis product – BRAN 2020, implemented on a Meta Quest 2 headset. The user interacts with the 4-dimensional oceanography field using touch controllers by performing zooming, rotating, and colour ranging. Versions of the system can also run in Augmented Reality or on a computer flat screen to enable interactions among collaborators.

We demonstrate a case study for the East Australia Current system, to examine the seasonal climatology and temperature anomalies during the evolution of a marine heatwave event. It is expected that Dynamic Ocean Explorer will help scientists with the capability to quickly formulate research hypotheses and perform ocean model validation, as well as provide stakeholders with intuitive information on decision-making when dealing with environmental changes and extremes.

We have also begun to investigate approaches to incorporating haptic devices so that future development can empower scientists to feel and hear a multisensory dynamic representation of oceanographic data.

Biography:

Dr. Ming Feng is a physical oceanographer from CSIRO and specialised in ocean circulation and climate variability. Currently, he is the science lead of the CSIRO ReInvent Science program on Ocean Explorer and an IMOS subfacility leader of the ocean mooring network. Dr. Feng is a lead researcher in the Leeuwin Current variability and biophysical processes off the coast of Western Australia. Recently, he has been active in the research areas of decadal climate variations and marine heatwave events in the Indo-Pacific Oceans. He has also been involved in marine conservation research in Western Australia.