Scientific Visualization: Snapshots from the Field Introduction Susan Mair, section editor. Visualization has come of age. It is in use as an analytical tool at an increasing number of campuses, research institutions, and government agencies, and in an increasing number of disciplines. This section consists of articles from a number of centers using visualization in innovative ways. It provides a look at the history and structure of some of the visualization centers themselves. It also illustrates the wide variety of fields to which the techniques of visualization are being successfully applied. We hope you enjoy and profit from it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Scientific Visualization Center Theresa Rhyne and LynnePetterson Since May, 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scientific Visualization Center has created visualizations for researchers within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has collaborated on jointly-sponsored visualization projects with researchers outside the Agency. So far, most of the work done by the Lab has been in the areas of atmospheric research, computational chemistry, and fluid dynamics. The U.S. EPA ScientificVisualization Center is part of the U.S. EPA's National Data Processing Division and is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Our work involves collaboration with research labs around the country. The EPA Visualization Lab has worked closely with the EPA's Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab at Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina. Using the Regional Oxidant Model, which predicts ozone levels for the Northeastern United States, we created animations of fluctuating ozone levels over 15-day periods. The image on the back cover, bottom left, shows ozone concentrations in the midwestern region of the United States. Similarly, we used the Regional Acid Deposition Model, capable of estimating acid depositions over the Eastern United States, to visualize hydrogen peroxide and rainfall. The image on the back cover, bottom fight, shows H202 deposition output. In its collaboration with NASA/Langley, the EPA Visualization Lab used the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer data, collected by satellites managed at NASA/Goddard, to depict and animate changes in global ozone concentrations. In a joint research project with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the EPA Visualization Lab has produced animations of a newly evolving global climate model. The image on the front cover depicts the development of the ozone hole over the southern hemisphere from 1979-1988. For the Health Effects Research Lab at RTP, the EPA Visualization Lab developed visualizations of modelled 3D electropotential scalar data and of the electric field data surrounding chemical molecules. The models represent the interaction of environmental agents with DNA, proteins, and other biologicalreceptors, and they constitute an important element in the prediction and assessment of chemical toxicity in the environment. To enhance the texture mapping of molecular fields, we have adapted existing algorithms or mathematical formulas. To do this, the staff merged computational code with visualization code to create customized visualization algorithms suited to the EPA's visualization requirements. The EPA Visualization Lab recently began collaborative efforts with researchers working in the areas of fluid dynamics and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As a result of the collaborative efforts, the EPA Visualization Lab animated simulated changes in suspended solids concentrations and in sediment bed thicknesses for Lake Erie, Green Bay, and the Fox River. For the animations, the staff of the EPA Visualization Lab combined large-scale, multi-media environmental models capable of examining more than one environmental event. The visualization of multi-media environmental models was made possible by the adaptation, customization, and integration of commercial software into the EPA visualization environment. For more information about the EPA Visualization Lab and its projects, contact Theresa Rhyne, Unisys Corporation, U.S. EPA Scientific Visualization Center, U.S. EPA MD-34 C, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, (919) 541-0207, trhyne @sunvis.rtpnc.epa.gov 1 7 8 / C o m p u t e r G r a p h i c s ° V o l u m e 26 * N u m b e r 3 ° A u g u s t 1992

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