Adcirc Viz: A Visualization Application for Distributed ADCIRC-based Coastal Storm Surge, Inundation, and Wave Modeling

ADCIRC Viz is a graphical user interface providing access to forecast outputs from the coastal storm surge, inundation, and wave modeling in the ADCIRC Surge Guidance System (ASGS). Its real-time prediction output improves decision makers’ ability to analyze, display, and communicate key information about the threats posed by hurricanes.

RENCI developed the AdcircViz application to allow seamless access to real-time storm surge predictions from the ASGS. ASGS is centered around the ADCIRC storm surge, wind-wave, and tide model, which is formulated using the linear triangular finite elements. This complicates traditional ways of visualizing and analysing model output, and AdcircViz addresses this problem by leveraging community standards for netCDF model output descriptions.

A MATLAB-based graphical user interface, AdcircViz enables the NHC and other users to access, display, and analyze ADCIRC-based simulation output. AdcircViz provides consistent display of model results, inter-comparison of time series output at user-selected locations, animation of time-dependent output fields, and export to GIS shape files.

Funded through the NOAA Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT) program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) has used AdcircViz to incorporate ADCIRC models of storm surge into its forecast decision making process during the project period.

Although this project is no longer funded, AdcircViz (rebranded as StormSurgeViz) is available via GitHub at https://github.com/renci-unc/StormSurgeViz, with documentation at http://renci-unc.github.io/StormSurgeViz/. It is still supported by RENCI and used during active tropical cyclone events to analyse real-time storm surge prediction results from the ASGS. With suitable configuration, StormSurgeViz can access and visualize any storm surge model output that conforms to the CF-UGRID conventions and that is posted to a THREDDS Data Server.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration