Climate Lens: Exploring Earth’s Energy Budget Through Virtual Reality

Student: Katherine Bradley

Faculty Mentor: Lynn Cominsky

Physics & Astronomy

College of Science, Technology, and Business

For my research project, I am exploring how virtual reality can be used to model the pathways of solar radiation as it interacts with Earth’s atmosphere and various surfaces. My multi-level simulation incorporates physics concepts specific to optics and thermodynamics while minimizing user cognitive overload by simulating one formula at a time. Currently, the project models solar irradiance. However, I will be adding more levels that simulate Rayleigh scattering and infrared radiation over time.
While the project is still in the prototyping phase, I plan to eventually use this simulation to investigate how immersive, interactive simulations can be used to improve users’ retention and conceptual understanding of physics concepts. As an upper-division physics student, I’m very familiar with the challenges of visualizing abstract concepts. While Newtonian physics seems rooted in tangible phenomena, topics such as molecular thermodynamics often feel less concrete. Digital simulations have helped me understand these abstract concepts more deeply by offering visual representations of phenomena that are otherwise unseen. By developing and testing physics simulations, I hope to enable more people to understand abstract physics concepts on a deeper level.