Modelling & Visualisation @GFZ

Numerous sections at the GFZ deal with modelling and visualisation. Here we present some examples.

Magnetic Field Lines | Section 2.3 Geomagnetism

During the Laschamp event, ca. 41.000 years ago, the Earth's geomagnetic core field was in an extreme state.
Instead of a single North-South pole pair, multiple poles existed, as the currently dominating dipole was significantly weakened.
The video shows the evolution of three dimensional magnetic field lines, calculated from a recent global model of the core field for the Laschamp event.
Blue lines point inwards and collections of blue lines signify a magnetic South pole, red lines point outwards and correspond to a North pole.
The Earth's surface is colored according to the radial component of the field and an exaggerated altitude map is applied for artistic purposes.
The mechanism behind extreme changes of the geomagnetic field is still not fully understood.
Paleomagnetic data is the only source for studying the Earth’s interior processes on long timescales and models like the one behind the image help to constrain simulations of the geodynamo and shed light on one of Earth's fundamental properties. | CC-BY GFZ

Volcanic Collapse | Section 4.1 Lithosphere Dynamics

The video shows the gravitational collapse of a laboratory-scale analogue volcano model. The colour indicates the vertical velocity. Note that there are steady and unsteady motions. The analogue model can be interpreted as a small-scale replica of the Etna in Italy. The experiment takes about 2 hours in reality simulating tens of thousands of years in nature. | CC-BY GFZ

Earth Model | Section 2.5 Geodynamic Modelling

3D Earth model
This model simulates the internal dynamics of the Earth's mantle and its relationship to surface deformation and topographic evolution, with blue representing cold mantle descending or subductions and red representing warm mantle ascending or mantle plumes. (CC-BY GFZ)

Continental Rift Evolution | Section 2.5 Geodynamic Modeling

Numerical model of rifting and continental break-up. Models like these provide an avenue to understand the formation of georesources and geohazards at plate boundaries. (Sascha Brune and Derek Neuharth. Based on Neuharth, D., Brune, S., Wrona, T., Glerum, A., Braun, J., & Yuan, X. (2022). Evolution of Rift Systems and Their Fault Networks in Response to Surface Processes. Tectonics, 41(3), e2021TC007166. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021TC007166) | CC-BY GFZ

3D model of the Bezymianny volcano | 1.4 Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics

We processed ten sets of aerial photogrammetric and satellite data to create high-resolution 3D models of Bezymianny Volcano in Kamchatka. This work allowed us to trace the volcano's evolution over five decades. The results were published in: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00014-5 | CC-BY GFZ

Representation of a heavy rainfall event | 1.4 Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics

Animation of a strong rain event
The animation shows a strong rain event in 2024-05-22 measured by an X-Band weatherradar operated by GFZ in Neubrandenburg since 2022. The weatherradar allows continuous derivation of precipitation every 5 minutes in a 100x100m spatial resolution. This high spatial detail outperforms currently available precipitation products and is most relevant in various applications such as agricultural management, forest fire and flood and drought monitoring. (CC-BY GFZ)

Organism Escarpment Retreat | Section 4.7 Earth Surface Process Modelling

Organisms trying to evolve/survive on an retreating escarpment along the edge of continental plateau; this could be regarded as similar to organisms/plants evolving along the western edge of the Indian subcontinent (Western Ghats). In the speciation model the important ratio is the ratio of the mutation rate to dispersal rate (scaled by the environmental gradient). Speciation has been shown to be optimum when that ratio is close to 1. The Simulation was performed using FastScape and AdaScape. | CC-BY GFZ

Sedimentary Fan Avulsions | Section 4.7 Earth Surface Process Modelling

Animation of Sedimentary Fan Avulsions
Evolution of a sedimentary fan from a constant source (a single channel/river flowing out of a mountain belt). In this simple experiment, the basement beneath the fan does not experience any subsidence. The time scale at which avulsions take place in a fan and thus, the time it takes to create a fan remain difficult to quantify; in our model, we use values of the erosion/deposition parameters such that the entire model run lasts 10 million years. The Simulation was performed using FastScape. (CC-BY GFZ)

Source-to-Sink-System | Section 4.7 Earth Surface Process Modelling

Two experiments on source-to-sink
Two experiments involving a complete source-to-sink (S2S) system comprising the source area (mountain), the transfer zone (continental plain) and sink (the marine deposit). During these experiments performed with FastScape, the sea level is assumed to vary over 400 Kyr (400.000 years) periods either in sync with enhanced precipitation on the source and transfer areas or in opposite phase. Simulations performed with FastScape. (CC-BY GFZ)

3D visualisation: Earthquake around Santorini [Jan-Feb 2025] | Section 2.1 Physics of Earthquakes and Volcanoes

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M.P. Isken, GFZ

The video shows a so-called localized three-dimensional visualization of earthquakes northeast of the Greek volcanic island of Santorini. In the period from January 29 to February 9, more than 14,000 earthquakes were recorded. An accumulation of weak to moderate earthquakes has been recorded around the Greek volcanic island of Santorini since January 24, 2025. The seismic activity is concentrated in the area between the islands of Santorini and Anydros, with a center around 15 km northeast of Santorini. The rapid and precise localization of the earthquakes is possible with the help of new innovative algorithms developed at the GFZ.

 

Continental drift in fast motion | Section 2.5 Geodynamic Modelling

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CCBY-SA 4.0 Sascha Brune, GFZ

The topography of the continents and oceans is based on: Amante, C; Eakins, B W (2009)
ETOPO1 Global Relief Model converted to PanMap layer format; NOAA-National Geophysical Data Center, PANGAEA
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.769615
Reconstructed using GPlates :
www.gplates.org
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