making climate data sing

SingBuffe" Institute at Northwestern | Northwestern University | February 9, 2016

MAKING CLIMATE DATA

SING

VISUALIZATION

Source: Halley (1686)

IN 1686, EDMUND HALLEY PREPARED THE FIRST KNOWN BIVARIATE PLOT DERIVED FROM OBSERVATIONAL DATA, RELATING BAROMETRIC PRESSURE TO ALTITUDE.

Source: Nightingale (1858)

DOT MAP BY JOHN SNOW SHOWING THE CLUSTERS OF CHOLERA CASES DURING THE LONDON EPIDEMIC OF 1852

KEELING CURVE

“HOCKEY STICK”

Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001)

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

−.4

−.2

0.

.2

.4

.6

.8

1.0

Annual Mean5−year Running Mean

Global Land−Ocean Temperature Index

Tem

pera

ture

Ano

mal

y (°

C)GLOBAL TEMPERATURE

Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

SONIFICATION

THE GEOCODA PROJECT

If you really want to communicate with someone, it’s best not to show a graph, but to express something artistically.

“ ”Commander Chris Hadfield

November 12, 2014

Daniel Crawford University of Minnesota

Source: Toshiyuki IMAI

Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

TEMPERATURE ANOMALY FOR 2015

cello

viola

violin II

violin I

Source: Miriam Mezzera

Source: Miriam Mezzera

THE MUSICAL ‘GEOGRAPHY’ OF OUR WARMING PLANET

1880 2015

PLANETARY BANDS, WARMING WORLD DANIEL CRAWFORD

“ ”1880s

The aqueous vapour of the air absorbs a considerable amount of the heat which is being constantly radiated by the ocean…

James Croll (1885)

“ ”1890s

… if the quantity of carbonic acid [CO2] increases in geometric progression, the augmentation of the temperature will increase nearly in arithmetic progression.

Svante Arrhenius (1896)

“ ”1900s

For centuries these magnificent pines have stood there enduring all the vicissitudes of heat and cold, flood and drought. They should contain some record of such alterations.

A.E. Douglass (1909)

“ ”1910s

The warming effect of a layer of clouds at night is commonly ascribed to radiation from the clouds, but it seems more likely to be due to radiation that is reflected back…

W.N. Dines (1917)

“ ”1920s

Moreover, the amount of oil that can be sold locally is very small and it is necessary to export the greater proportion to distant countries…

British Political Agent in Kuwait (1923)

“ ”1930s

The course of world temperatures during the next twenty years should afford valuable evidence as to the accuracy of the calculated effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Guy Callendar (1938)

“ ”1940s

While the individual day-by-day weather conditions are proverbially fickle, the climate remains fairly constant, at least within a human lifetime.

Helmut Landsberg (1946)

“ ”1950s

The extra CO2 released into the atmosphere by industrial processes and other human activities may have caused the temperature rise during the present century.

Gilbert Plass (1956)

“ ”1960s

A systematic variation with season and latitude in the concentration and isotopic abundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been found in the northern hemisphere.

Charles Keating (1960)

“ ”1970s

Although there may no immediate cause for alarm about the consequences of carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere, there is certainly need for further study.

J.S. Sawyer (1972)

“ ”1980s

Global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe to a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and the observed warming.

James Hansen (1988)

“ ”1990s

[P]rojections of future global mean temperature change and sea level rise confirm the potential for human activities to alter the Earth's climate to an extent unprecedented in human history…

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1990)

“ ”2000s

Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007)

“ ”2010s

The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world.

United States Department of Defense (2014)

14 OF THE 15 WARMEST YEARS ON RECORD OCCURRED IN THE FIRST 15 YEARS OF THIS CENTURY.

EVERY REGION HAS GOTTEN WARMER. BUT THE ARCTIC HAS WARMED MORE THAN ANY OTHER PART OF THE PLANET.

GLOBALLY-AVERAGED TEMPERATURES IN 2015 SHATTERED THE PREVIOUS MARK SET IN 2014.

2015

THE GEOCODA PROJECT

2013

2015

68

?

STRAUSS’S PIECE IS IN NO WAY

A LITERAL TRANSCRIPTION OF A HIKE UP A MOUNTAIN, IT’S AN IMAGINATIVE CONSTRUCT

WHICH CAPTURES THE EMOTIONAL IMPORT OF THAT HIKE. THE CLIMAX ISN’T JUST HIGH IN PITCH, IT’S EXALTED IN FEELING.

“ ”

Ivan Hewi!, Telegraph (London) August 30, 2013

@djspooky

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

−.4

−.2

0.

.2

.4

.6

.8

1.0

Annual Mean5−year Running Mean

Global Land−Ocean Temperature Index

Tem

pera

ture

Ano

mal

y (°

C)GLOBAL TEMPERATURE

Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

HOWEVER, SOMETIMES CONVERTING A SIMPLE GRAPH INTO

SOME DIFFERENT FORM OF INFORMATION

CAN DELIVER THE MESSAGE FAR BETTER, AND MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN DOTS ON A PAGE.

“ ”

Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy July 18, 2013

SingBuffe" Institute at Northwestern | Northwestern University | February 9, 2016

MAKING CLIMATE DATA

SING