From static to dynamic visualization of the sea surface height on a web GIS application

During the last three decades, the Earth’s climate is changing rapidly, with higher average temperatures every year that leads not only to the melting of the ice sheet in the arctic and on most of the glaciers all over the world but also to extreme weather phenomena. The rise of the temperature can affect the Sea Surface Height (SSH) in more than one way, and since 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by the oceans, if the oceans are being affected then the whole Earth also is. The monitoring of the SSH can help the scientist predict the changes that will take place in the future. The SSH is a dynamic phenomenon that constantly changes not only within different decades but also from year to year, month to month even within the same day. These changes are the result of various phenomena and are called anomalies. When the SSH is monitored different phenomena are represented in different time scales and it is important to be taken into consideration if there is the need for a proper understanding of the SSH phenomenon. Many spatial data vendors are providing a large number of data-sets related to the monitoring of SSH and its anomalies and as a result, there is the need to find the most effective way to extract information from the data. Over the years has been established that one of the most effective ways to extract information from data is through the various visualization techniques and since the data of SSH is mainly spatial the main visualization technique is cartography. The advancements of the technology over the last couple of decades have led to a reality that the ”online” application is the norm and consequently the web mapping and web geographical information system (GIS). The goal of this thesis is to propose an architecture for a web GIS application that will be able to visualize dynamic data while adding elements of interactivity to improve the chances of the Sea Surface Height Anomaly (SSHA). IN order to achieve the goal of this thesis three main research questions need to be answered: What type ...