A series of data visualizations documenting climate change developed at the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio. These dynamic visualizations are designed to catch the eye utilizing innovative coordinate rotations, scaling, morphing, and visual metaphors to highlight key aspects of each dataset. Please visit the links for full details and credits.
Global Temperatures:
This graphic’s name, the NASA Climate Spiral, is both visual descriptor and a metaphor for our rising temperatures. The visualization’s ‘twist ending’ is literally a twist.
Based on an earlier graphic by Ed Hawkins.
Rising carbon dioxide levels are driving the spiraling temperatures. This graphic is a new take on the Keeling Curve – morphing between a data grid view highlighting seasonality to a more standard line plot showing trend. It then scales out to show ice core data. CO₂ levels are higher now then they have been these 800,000 years.
After Carbon Dioxide, Methane is second largest contributor to warming. Here we map US Methane emissions by sector. Extrusions from the surface extend the colormap allowing to to show the large dynamic range in emissions.
A visual metaphor of lapping waves is employed to illustrate how rising temperatures are leading to rising sea levels. NASA has a continous satellite record of global sea levels spanning more than 30 years.
This is a more literal take on the same data set. Imagine you are on a submarine, looking through a port hole and can speed up time to watch the sea levels rise.
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5235/
visualization by AJ Christensen
The amount of Arctic sea ice varies seasonally, reaching a maximum in March and a minimum in September. Recently, the Arctic sea ice minimum has been decreasing at a rate of 13% per decade. After the twist we slice the spiral in half to chart out the trends for both sea ice maximum and minimum.
NASA is one of a half dozen institutions who keep records of the Earth’s global surface temperature. 2024 global temperatures were very close to the limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels set by the Paris Accord.
The global record is built from measurements from weather stations on land, and ships, buoys and other sensors over water.
The Climate Jellyfish graphic shows that it isn’t just that temperatures are warming – the distribution of temperatures is broadening.
The increase in temperature extremes is largely driven by differential warming. The Arctic is warming significantly faster then the rest of the globe.
2023 and 2024 were record breaking warm years. Not only that, they surpassed the previous records by a wide margin.
For twelve consecutive months, from June 2023 to May 2024, we set a monthly record for the highest average global surface temperature.
One consequence of climate change is changes to the water cycle. Floods and droughts are increasing in both frequency and intensity. This visualization charts extreme wet and dry events.
Another consequence is increasing wildfires. This graph shows the number of acres burned by wildfires in the US.
Crop yields with be impacted by a warming Earth. For wheat we expect yields to rise while the yields for maize are expected to fall.
Increased heat will effect agriculture workers as well as their crops. The inset graph highlights the conditions in key agricultural areas of the US.