Weather Channel uses slick IMR to showcase ice safety, climate change

The Weather Channel’s latest immersive mixed reality segment explains ice safety as well as how ice cover is being affected by climate change. 

The spot, which aired on “AMHQ” Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, starts under the surface of ice — showing falling debris and vehicles before “breaking” the surface of the ice and reveal Mark Elliot standing on a “dais” that’s “lodged” in the ice in the middle of a body of water.

Elliot then points out the safe thickness for ice fishing — complete with a woman “catching” a yellow label showing the measurement.

As he continues, two snowmobile riders zoom around him before a pickup truck is shown driving on the ice.

At this point the experience goes back “under” the ice — with some impressively rendered wave and ice distortion effects — before the truck cracks the ice.

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Finally, the view shifts high above Elliot and the track, which can still be seen bobbing in the water, as a giant graph illustrating the shifts in Great Lakes ice cover over the years appears “etched” in the ice covered lake. 

The segment, like The Weather Channel’s other IMR experiences, is the result of a partnership between the cable network and The Future Group, using Ross Video and Mo-Sys technology.