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Interactive Earth

Interactive Earth is a teaching tool for demonstrating mantle convection and its dependence on Rayleigh number. It enables a mantle convection model to be run much more quickly than the codes typically used in research. It solves the same governing equations, but makes comprimises for accuracy for the sake of achieving speed. This speed enables the code to be very responsive to user input.

The simulations can be run in a browser without running any local code here.

More about the project can be found here.

An introduction to the underlying science can be found here.

Compiling on Ubuntu Linux

  • Install fftw3, SDL2, and GLEW using apt-get install libfftw3-dev libsdl2-dev libglew-dev
  • Rename Makefile.linux to makefile
  • Run make on the command line to compile the project
  • run the program by typing its path and name in the command line: ./interactive_earth

Compiling on a Mac

  • brew install the following dependencies: fftw3, SDL2, GLEW
  • rename Makefile.osx to makefile
  • run the command make in the command line
  • run the program by typing its path and name in the command line: ./interactive_earth

Compiling to Javascript

Interactive Earth may be run in the web browser by compiling it to Javascript using emscripten. This takes a bit more work, since you must compile SDL2 and fftw3 manually as well, but can be done. The finished product can be seen here.

User input

With the simulation running, the user can make the following changes:

  • put in positive temperature anomalies (add heat) by clicking
  • put in negative thermal anomalies (remove heat) by right-clicking
  • change the Rayleigh number (the vigor of convection) by scrolling
  • press space to pause the simulation. while it is paused one can click to add earthquakes.

Changing simulation behavior for advanced users

The behavior of the simulation can be modified by changing parameters within the upper part of the main.cpp file. The parameters that readily exposed for being modified include:

  • the resolution of the simulation (and thereby how quickly it runs)
  • whether or not to do a true polar wander (TPW) calculation
  • whether to included a chemical field
  • whether to render the simulation with flattened with an equatorial bulge