Robert Moorhead, left, and Patty Seger look over data from
the international global warming study. Projected on the screen
behind them is a computer-generated image of the ocean floor.

University research center part of global warming study

It's part of a major research program called the Acoustic Monitoring of Global Ocean Climate. Conducted under the auspices of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, the project includes engineers, computer scientists, and artists at the Mississippi State\ National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Computational Field Simulation.

In the first year of a multi-year grant, the university has received $1.5 million to develop scientific visualizations of data generated by the project. Total grants for the program exceed $42 million, so far.

"Using acoustic monitoring, scientists are trying to determine the rate of global change by recording temperatures in the oceans," said Dr. Robert J. Moorhead. "Climatological changes occur with much less variability in an ocean, making it easier to track trends."

Moorhead, an electrical and computer engineering professor, heads the center's scientific visualization program.

The ERC, which specializes in computational solutions to large-scale field problems, will translate the massive data generated by the project into computer visualizations.

Moorhead will direct efforts to develop visualizations intended for a scientific audience. Patty Seger, director of the ERC's computer art studio, will work with engineers to translate data visually for a lay audience.

"Part of the reason Mississippi State has been awarded this grant is that we have developed a unique cooperative effort between the graphic artists and the engineers here at the center," Moorhead said.

Other faculty members involved include Bernd Hamann, assistant professor of computer science, and Kelly Parmley, a research assistant in scientific visualization. A number of post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students also will be involved.

"This is a massive project requiring cutting-edge technology, and it will allow the center to enhance its computer capabilities," said center director Joe Thompson. "It is among the largest research projects undertaken to date by our interdisciplinary team."

In addition to Mississippi State, the research involves scientists from a number of other institutions and agencies around the nation, including the Naval Research Laboratory, located at the Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi.

By establishing a series of tracking stations, primarily in the Pacific Ocean, scientists will measure the transmission time of sounds from acoustic sources to receivers.

Computer models generated by the research can be used in predicting long-term environmental trends.