Volcanic skyscapes

Pretorius, Pieter Cilliers

Volcanic skyscapes

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

Universiy of Cape Town

Department

Department of Computer Science

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Abstract

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.

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