Educational Earthquake Visualization

教育地震可视化

• 批准号: 9455417
• 负责人: Michael Wysession
• 金额: $ 13.81万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-04-15 至 1999-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9455417&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Educational; Earthquake; Visualization

Despite the important role that earthquakes and seismology play in the Earth sciences, there has been up until now no good way to visualize the process by which an earthquake generates waves that propagate throughout the Earth. These seismic waves are important because they cause destruction in many parts of the world, are used to determine the location and size of the earthquakes, and are the means by which geologists have mapped out the interior of the Earth. Without a way to visualize the process of seismic waves spreading throughout the Earth after an earthquake, it has been very hard to explain this phenomenon and for students to understand it. The difficultly lies in the fact that the production of such an animation requires advanced geophysical algorithms, high-speed computational capabilities, and a strong dedication to use these research capabilities for an educational purpose. This project meets this need by producing a computer-graphics color animation that accurately represents the propagation of seismic waves from an earthquake, available to educators in both VHS-video and computer formats. The project is based on a prototype of such a video-animation recently made by the PI. The production of a realistic visualization of earthquake wave propagation through the Earth is computation ally intensive. The prototype took 5 months of computation on a Sun Sparcstation 10/41. The animation will not only give viewers an intuitive feel for the internal structure and layering of our planet, but also teach the principle of wave physics applied to the Earth, showing waves reflecting, refracting, and diffracting along the different layers within our planet. The computer animation will be narrated, presenting an educational discussion of earthquakes, their destructive capabilities, their relation to plate tectonics, and their role in mapping the details of the interior of the Earth.

尽管地震和地震学在地球科学中发挥着重要作用，但迄今为止还没有好的方法来可视化地震产生在整个地球上传播的波的过程。这些地震波很重要，因为它们在世界许多地方造成破坏，用于确定地震的位置和规模，并且是地质学家绘制地球内部地图的手段。如果没有办法可视化地震后地震波在地球上传播的过程，就很难解释这种现象，也很难让学生理解它。困难在于，制作这样的动画需要先进的地球物理算法、高速计算能力，以及将这些研究能力用于教育目的的强烈奉献精神。该项目通过制作计算机图形彩色动画来满足这一需求，该动画准确地表示地震中地震波的传播，并以 VHS 视频和计算机格式提供给教育工作者。 该项目基于 PI 最近制作的此类视频动画的原型。 地震波在地球上传播的真实可视化的产生是计算密集型的。该原型在 Sun Sparcstation 10/41 上进行了 5 个月的计算。 该动画不仅可以让观众直观地感受到地球的内部结构和层次，还可以教授应用于地球的波物理学原理，展示波沿着地球不同层的反射、折射和衍射。计算机动画将进行旁白，对地震、地震的破坏能力、地震与板块构造的关系以及地震在绘制地球内部细节地图中的作用进行教育性讨论。