VisCTM (Visualization of Chemical Transport Model), an OpenGL-based visualization tool that has the capability to render data on both regular and irregular grids. Simulation models describe worldwide phenomena such as the transport and transformation of trace species in the Earth's atmosphere. Computer visualization plays an important role in the evaluation of model results with observations and in detailed studies of the physical and chemical processes represented in the model. The goal of this project is to develop specific visualization software that will process five-dimensional (longitude, latitude, altitude, physical species variable and time) environmental data and provide meni-driven functionality for volume rendering, isosurface generation (marching cube algorithm), plane slicing, and time stepping. A triangle strip algorithm is adopted from the Vis5D application to view large volumes of these data, either as snapshots or as animations over time. A graphical software model that is based on OpenGL is developed to capture views of the data on irregular three-dimensional grids. This will allow users to perform multidirectional visual analyses, formulate hypotheses, and draw conclusions. The developed model is capable of providing flexibility in terms of directly using the binary format data without further conversion, as well as an efficient Vis5D file format. Modularity of this code achieves the independence of software packages such as Vis5D or VisAD. This code is solely based on OpenGL, can be extended for future development, is modular, and is accompanied by detailed documentation that will assure the continuity of this research work.
