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Volcanic skyscapes

Explosive volcanic eruptions are some of the most visually impressive natural phe-nomena, and are frequently represented in visual media such as films or games, usually with a bespoke, one-off solution. Existing plume models treat the atmo-sphere as a static boundary, while existing atmosphere model...

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Main Author: Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers
Other Authors: Gain, James
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Department of Computer Science 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers
author2 Gain, James
author_browse Gain, James
Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers
author_facet Gain, James
Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers
author_sort Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers
collection Thesis
description Explosive volcanic eruptions are some of the most visually impressive natural phe-nomena, and are frequently represented in visual media such as films or games, usually with a bespoke, one-off solution. Existing plume models treat the atmo-sphere as a static boundary, while existing atmosphere models are not designed for the extremes present in a plume. We present the first general-purpose model with bi-directional interaction between a volcano plume and the atmosphere. The atmo-sphere is modelled as sparse layers of 2D Eulerian grids, while the plume dynamics are modelled with Lagrangian disks and spheres. We enable the transfer of physi-cal quantities such as ash, moisture, temperature, and wind velocity between these submodels. Volumetric animations are generated through procedural upsampling using noise functions, specifically tuned to the physical processes in play, to create a complete volcanic skyscape. Our model depicts most of the relevant facets arising from plume and atmosphere interactions, such as ash rain, embedded bell, cap, and skirt clouds, shockwave effects, and volcanic lightning.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42003
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:04.194Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Department of Computer Science
publisherStr Department of Computer Science
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42003 Volcanic skyscapes Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers Gain, James Masters Explosive volcanic eruptions are some of the most visually impressive natural phe-nomena, and are frequently represented in visual media such as films or games, usually with a bespoke, one-off solution. Existing plume models treat the atmo-sphere as a static boundary, while existing atmosphere models are not designed for the extremes present in a plume. We present the first general-purpose model with bi-directional interaction between a volcano plume and the atmosphere. The atmo-sphere is modelled as sparse layers of 2D Eulerian grids, while the plume dynamics are modelled with Lagrangian disks and spheres. We enable the transfer of physi-cal quantities such as ash, moisture, temperature, and wind velocity between these submodels. Volumetric animations are generated through procedural upsampling using noise functions, specifically tuned to the physical processes in play, to create a complete volcanic skyscape. Our model depicts most of the relevant facets arising from plume and atmosphere interactions, such as ash rain, embedded bell, cap, and skirt clouds, shockwave effects, and volcanic lightning. 2025-10-13T13:49:51Z 2025-10-13T13:49:51Z 2025 2025-10-13T13:47:12Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42003 en eng application/pdf Department of Computer Science Faculty of Science Universiy of Cape Town
spellingShingle Masters
Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers
Volcanic skyscapes
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Volcanic skyscapes
title_full Volcanic skyscapes
title_fullStr Volcanic skyscapes
title_full_unstemmed Volcanic skyscapes
title_short Volcanic skyscapes
title_sort volcanic skyscapes
topic Masters
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42003
work_keys_str_mv AT pretoriuspietercilliers volcanicskyscapes