An Advanced Dynamic Visualization Method of Global Ocean Tide with Multi-core Processor Based on OpenGL

Abstract. In terms of ocean tide visualization, to meet the requirement of both display range and operational efficiency, an advanced method is proposed, in which the tide height is rapidly computed with global tide model EOT10a, and dynamically displayed by OpenGL. Aiming at the large amounts of calculation of global tide height, the feature of multicore processor is integrated into the method. The experiment shows that, compared to a single-core processor, when using a 6-core processor, the speedup ratio is about 5.4, parallel efficiency reaches 90%, and 880 000 tide heights can be calculated per second. Eventually, the result would be output as a tide height graph by OpenGL. This method could be a useful tool for marine cartography due to the large display range and the high efficiency.