Feature based visualization of geophysical data

Our goal is to develop a feature based framework for data mining and forecasting from geophysical data fields. These data may be generated from either numerical simulation models or space based platforms. This paper focuses on pertinent features from sea surface temperature (SST) fields that are observed with the AVHRR satellite. Our contribution consist of three components: (1) A method for tracking feature velocities from from fluid motion with incompressibility constraint, (2) a method for localizing singular events such as vortices and saddle points from underlying feature velocities, and (3) application of our protocol to 12 years of high resolution real data to reveal novel seasonal and inter-annual trends based on computed events.