Visual Data Analysis as an Integral Part of Environmental Management

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Geoscience
• Computer Science

Background:

• The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE/EM) addresses nuclear contaminant fate and transport.
• Understanding contaminant behavior in natural and engineered systems is critical for managing nuclear waste sites.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the integral role of visualization in modeling nuclear contaminant transport.
• To demonstrate how visual analysis supports decision-making for nuclear waste site remediation.

Main Methods:

• Collaborative modeling by geologists, hydrologists, physicists, and computer scientists.
• Utilizing high-performance computing for contaminant transport simulations.
• Employing specialized visualization software for large-scale data analysis and validation against field data.

Main Results:

• Visualization is crucial for verifying model setup and estimating parameters.
• Visual analysis of massive simulation data facilitates understanding of contaminant transport.
• Simulation results validated against field data inform treatment options.

Conclusions:

• Visual analysis is an indispensable tool throughout the nuclear contaminant modeling process.
• Lessons learned from visualization impact remediation strategies for contaminated sites.
• Integrated visualization enhances decision-making for effective environmental management.