1. A method for tracing a plurality of virtual particles through a flow filed, comprising: receiving a flow field encompassing a flow domain; dividing the flow domain into a plurality of cells; defining a plurality of virtual particles within the flow domain; collecting one or more values for flow properties at each of the plurality of cells; generating a histogram for each of the plurality of cells representing the collected one or more flow properties for that corresponding cells, wherein the histogram includes, for each of the one or more flow properties, a plurality of bins defining ranges of property values and a count of virtual particles within that cell that exhibit those properties; advecting the histograms for the plurality of cells with respect to the flow field over time; and rendering a graphical representation of the plurality of particles within the flow domain based on the advected histograms for the plurality of cells using a graphics processor.