Taming oceans of data with new visualization techniques

20161216_datavisualization_nd_25_1150-copyThe global ocean is the Earth’s heating and cooling system, pushing balmy tropical waters toward the poles and bringing back colder, nutrient-rich waters. But modeling this system is extremely complex, resulting in billions of data points. To tackle the complexity, researchers at three Princeton-area institutions have transformed complex modeling data into an easily understandable animated movie showing how ocean temperatures and saltiness change over time.