23 November 2022… GFDL Lunchtime Seminar Series Creating visualizations of complex data structures and patterns is an important part of our jobs. We use figures for journal publications, presentations, posters, lab group meetings, science communication, and more. However, creating suitable figures for the task can sometimes be an afterthought during the extensive scientific process. In this seminar, I’ll share examples from climate science to discuss a network of resources available for designing accessible figures in both publications and presentations by leveraging resources that support open science practices. I will also share examples of what not to do, which goes beyond only considering interpretable colormaps, and how to improve these figures moving forward. Finally, by using global mean surface temperature as a case study, I will share some creative instances of using data visualization as a form of storytelling for communicating climate change.

1. USING DATA VISUALIZATION FOR
ACCESSIBLE SCIENCE
(COMMUNICATION)
Zachary Labe
Postdoc in Seasonal-to-Decadal (S2D) Variability and Predictability Division
zachary.labe@noaa.gov
GFL – 23 November 2022 – Lunchtime Seminar
@ZLabe
https://zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-ice-figures/
🌐

2. The Arctic is warming more than 3 times
faster than the global average!

4. NOW
Start of
satellite-era

5. DATA VISUALIZATION
IS STORY-TELLING.
Arctic temperature anomalies from 1950 to 2021

6. DON’T BE
SUCH A
SCIENTIST
WE ARE
DATA
SCIENTISTS
ART BY JILL PELTO

7. Landscape of Change uses data
about sea level rise, glacier volume
decline, increasing global
temperatures, and the increasing use
of fossil fuels. These data lines
compose a landscape shaped by
the changing climate, a world in
which we are now living.
Jill Pelto|https://www.jillpelto.com/landscape-of-change
“
”

8. WHAT ARE YOUR
WORST FIGURES?

9. My first map subplot?

10. LABE
ET
AL.
2017,
CLIMATE
DYNAMICS

11. Arctic sea ice thickness variability
and the atmospheric circulation
Zachary M. Labe
Gudrun Magnusdottir
2 June 2016

13. BEGINNING WITH
OUR DATA.

15. LINE GRAPHS
Temperature
Anomaly
(°C)

21. :)

25. MAP PLOTS

26. YIKES!

27. YIKES – FONT IS BLEH!

28. YIKES – COLOR!

29. MAP PROJECTION!

30. :)

31. HAVE FUN!

39. LEVERAGING ALL
DIMENSIONS OF
YOUR DATA.

40. I have a 2D-array of sea ice thickness
anomaly data [year,day]…
Each line is one day
Number of Years
Thickness
Anomaly
(m)

42. https://seaborn.pydata.org/examples/index.html

44. https://betterfigures.org/2012/09/15/decadal-temperatures/
Error bars and graphical clutter…

45. https://betterfigures.org/2012/09/15/decadal-temperatures/
Error bars and graphical clutter…

46. https://betterfigures.org/2012/09/15/decadal-temperatures/
Error bars and graphical clutter…

47. SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE.

48. DANISH
METEOROLOGICAL
INSTITUTE

50. SCIENCE OF DESIGN.

51. cmap = ‘jet’

52. STOELZLE AND STEIN, 2021, HESS

53. 1998!

54. Citations on Google Scholar…

55. Check out: https://betterfigures.org/2018/06/04/playing-hunt-the-discontinuity/

56. 2004!

60. WESTAWAY, 2022, GC

61. WESTAWAY, 2022, GC

63. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

64. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

65. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

66. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

67. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

68. Crameri, F. (2018). Scientific colour maps.
Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1243862
Crameri, F. (2018), Geodynamic diagnostics, scientific
visualisation and StagLab 3.0, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2541-
2562, doi:1 0.5194/gmd-11-2541-2018
Crameri, F., G.E. Shephard, and P.J. Heron (2020), The
misuse of colour in science communication, Nature
Communications, 11, 5444. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19160-7

69. BY FABIO CRAMERI

70. BY FABIO CRAMERI

71. Crameri, F. (2018). Scientific colour maps.
Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1243862
Crameri, F. (2018), Geodynamic diagnostics, scientific
visualisation and StagLab 3.0, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2541-
2562, doi:1 0.5194/gmd-11-2541-2018
Crameri, F., G.E. Shephard, and P.J. Heron (2020), The
misuse of colour in science communication, Nature
Communications, 11, 5444. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19160-7
Palettable:
Color palettes for Python

72. PALETTABLE - PYTHON

73. TURBO
https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/08/turbo-improved-rainbow-colormap-for.html

74. OTHER OPTIONS
THYNG ET AL. 2016; OCEANOGRAPHY

75. CMOCEAN
THYNG ET AL. 2016; OCEANOGRAPHY

76. CMASHER
“Scientific colormaps for making accessible,
informative and cmashing plots”

77. Adapted from Ed Hawkins at betterfigures.org

78. Adjusting axes (spines)

79. Changing font styles

80. 1. Seaborn.
2. Plotly.
3. ggplot.
4. Matplotlib v3.
RESOURCES

81. 1. https://betterfigures.org/
2. https://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/
3. http://colorbrewer2.org/
RESOURCES

82. LABE
ET
AL.
2019,
GRL
Bring drama to your data story

83. LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL

84. LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL
STRONGER
POLAR VORTEX
Zonal wind
at 10 hPa
Geopotential
at 30 hPa

85. WEAKER
POLAR VORTEX
Zonal wind
at 10 hPa
Geopotential
at 30 hPa
LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL

86. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

87. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

88. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

89. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

90. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

91. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

92. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

93. Perceiving internal climate variability
WITT, LABE ET AL. 2022; submitted

94. MAKING ACCESSIBLE
FIGURES.

100. ACCESSIBILITY

101. ACCESSIBILITY

102. ACCESSIBILITY

103. ACCESSIBILITY
No jargon
Tell a story
Alternative text
Color contrast ratio
Label data directly
Avoid flashing GIFs
Include figure titles
Avoid data overlays
Provide data references

104. VISUALIZING
GLOBAL
TEMPERATURE
CHANGE

107. 2016 RIO OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY

109. PLOT BY ED HAWKINS

110. PLOT BY ED HAWKINS
DON’T BE
SUCH A
SCIENTIST
WE ARE
DATA
SCIENTISTS

112. https://showyourstripes.info/

113. CHECK:
Simple.
Bold.
Stories.
@ZLabe
Questions!
https://zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-ice-figures/
ZACHARY LABE | 23 NOVEMBER 22| GFDL LUNCHTIME SEMINAR