Curvature-Based Crease Surfaces for Wave Visualization

The visualization and analysis of complex fields often requires identifying and extracting domain specific fea-tures. Through a collaboration with geophysicists we extend previous work on crease surfaces with a new and complimentary definition: extremas in principal surface curvature rather than scalar value. Using this definition, we visualize the resulting surfaces which correspond to individual wave fronts. As these wave fronts propagate through a control structure (medium), they undergo changes in intensity, shape and topology due to reflection, refraction and interference. We demonstrate our ability to effectively visualize these phenomena in complex data sets including a large-scale simulation of a hypothetical earthquake along the San Andreas fault in Southern California