Simulating the dynamics of the dancing lights
Figure 1: Frames from an animation illustrating an auroral surge (spiral) formation in the northern hemisphere. The auroral displays, known as the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, are geomagnetic phenomena of impressive visual characteristics and remarkable scientific value. Auroras present a c...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.164.1904 http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/research/tr/2002/16/CS-2002-16.pdf |
| Summary: | Figure 1: Frames from an animation illustrating an auroral surge (spiral) formation in the northern hemisphere. The auroral displays, known as the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, are geomagnetic phenomena of impressive visual characteristics and remarkable scientific value. Auroras present a complex behavior that arises from interactions between plasma (hot, ionized gases composed of ions, electrons and neutral atoms) and Earth’s electromagnetic fields. In this paper we present a physically-based model to perform 3D visual simulations of auroral dynamics. This model takes into account the physical parameters and processes directly associated with plasma flow. The set of partial differential equations associated with these processes is solved using a practical multigrid algorithm, which can also be applied in the simulation of natural phenomena such as gas, smoke or water flow. In order to illustrate the applicability of our model we provide animation sequences rendered using a distributed forward mapping approach. |
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