Lossy Compression for Visualization of Atmospheric Data

Lossy compression is a data compression technique that sacrifices precision for the sake of higher compression rates. While loss of precision is unacceptable when storing simulation data for check pointing, it has little discernable impact on visualization. Saving simulation output for later examination is still a prevalent workflow. Domain scientists often return to data from older runs to examine the data in a new context. Storage of visualization data at full precision is not necessary for this purpose. The use of lossy compression can therefore relieve the pressure on HPC storage equipment or be used to store data at higher temporal resolution than without compression. In this poster we show how lossy compression was used to store visualization data for the analysis of a supercell thunderstorm. The visual results will be shown as well as details of how the compression was used in the workflow.