Zhang, X., Luo, J., Dong W. and Gao L., 2013. Exploring and visualizing three-dimensional ocean data in the China Digital Ocean Prototype System

Exploring and visualizing three-dimensional ocean data on visual globes is a new research domain necessary for the construction of the Digital Ocean and Digital Earth projects. In this paper, we report an effort to visualize and explore the ocean three-dimensionally for the China Digital Ocean Prototype System (CDOPS). This three-dimensional ocean environment is composed of three parts: the three-dimensional coast, the ocean surface and the three-dimensional ocean floor. In the study that follows, the in situ observational data were visualized by a two-dimensional graph. The remote sensing information product was overlaid on the globe in a distributed web environment, and the model output data were visualized and explored in a web environment with vertical profile and a seriate change-representation function. The applications of the CDOPS are introduced at the paper's end. This paper is based on an ongoing research project on the development of the CDOPS, a system that can facilitate the integration, sharing, visualization and usage of and access to ocean observation data and model computing data from the Digital Earth system.