Domantas Dilys

Room: 2.04 Sir William Henry Bragg Building
Email: sc17dd@leeds.ac.uk

Summary

My current research builds on the existing expertise in vortex ring analysis and visualisation, in combination with topological data analysis and scientific visualisation. Vortex rings fuel vertical cloud development, therefore my work is closely related to Meteorology, as clouds play a very important role in climate models. Understanding the world around us relies heavily on our sensory system. Scientific visualisation, combined with data analysis, can be seen as an extension of our sensory system - as it enables us to "sense" what we cannot otherwise see, hear, smell, taste or touch. This is precisely where my interest in visual, multidisciplinary work stems from.

Past Studies

My University of Leeds journey started back in 2017, having enrolled the Joint Masters Program - Computer Science with High-Performance Graphics and Games Engineering (MEng, BSc). Computer Graphics found itself as an intersection of quite a few topics I had always been interested in - from Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics, to Video Games, Art and Design.

During this course I have chosen to take up the one-year work placement, working at RAL Space with satellite data and atmospheric pollutant retrievals. Precisely during this time the career path started forming in the direction of Scientific Visualisation and Data Analysis. Yet again, the area of Computer Graphics found itself conveniently placed within these disciplines, as algorithms and data analysis techniques have to be merged with graphics techniques for efficient visualisation. After all, an interesting way to describe visualisation is to view it as the most efficient data compression technique, turning billions of numbers into images.

Current Studies

The current stage of my career began in 2022 October with the start of the PhD at University of Leeds in project "Topological analysis tools to support meteorologists with investigating vortex ring influence on cloud formation". Fast-moving vortices that form a ring, namely – Vortex Rings, are stable structures in fluid mechanics and can travel a significant distance before dissipating. This can cause the cloud tops to lift higher in altitude, where temperatures are cooler and water vapor condenses. The work will focus on systematically detecting toroidal structures (the vortex rings) in cloud simulation data to help improving cloud development models.