Guest lecture for “Objective Analysis in Atmospheric Sciences (ATS 655)" at Colorado State University

1. USING DATA VISUALIZATION
FOR EFFECTIVE SCIENCE
(COMMUNICATION)
ZACHARY LABE | 29 APRIL 2022| ATS 655 | COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

3. Polar Amplification: acceleration of
warming in high latitudes relative to
the rest of the globe

6. NOW
Start of
satellite-era

7. Polar Amplification:
acceleration of warming in
high latitudes relative to
the rest of the globe

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

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

10. 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|http://www.jillpelto.com/landscape-of-change
“
”

11. DATA VISUALIZATION
IS STORY-TELLING.

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

13. WHAT ARE YOUR
WORST FIGURES?

14. LABE
ET
AL.
2017,
CLIMATE
DYNAMICS

15. My first map subplot?

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

18. BEGINNING WITH
OUR DATA.

20. LINE GRAPHS
Temperature
Anomaly
(°C)

26. :)

30. MAP PLOTS

31. YIKES!

32. YIKES – FONT IS BLEH!

33. YIKES – COLOR!

34. MAP PROJECTION!

35. :)

36. HAVE FUN!

43. SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE.

44. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-CT) - Time to Wake Up: Climate Progress Speech (3/21/2018)

45. DANISH
METEOROLOGICAL
INSTITUTE

47. SCIENCE OF DESIGN.

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

49. STOELZLE AND STEIN, 2021, HESS

50. EGU 2018 Conference https://betterfigures.org/

55. WESTAWAY, 2022, GC

56. WESTAWAY, 2022, GC

58. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

59. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

60. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

61. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

62. SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

63. Adapted from Ed Hawkins at betterfigures.org

64. 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

65. 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

66. BY FABIO CRAMERI

67. BY FABIO CRAMERI

68. OTHER OPTIONS
THYNG ET AL. 2016; OCEANOGRAPHY

69. CMOCEAN

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

71. Adjusting axes (spines)

72. Changing font styles

73. https://github.com/zmlabe

74. 1. Seaborn.
2. Plotly.
3. ggplot.
4. Matplotlib v3.
ALTERNATIVES

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

76. LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL

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

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

79. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

80. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

81. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

82. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

83. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

84. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

85. 2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS ET AL. 2021, JCLI

86. ACCESSIBILITY

87. ACCESSIBILITY

88. ACCESSIBILITY

93. 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

94. VISUALIZING
GLOBAL
TEMPERATURE
CHANGE

97. 2016 RIO OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY

99. PLOT BY ED HAWKINS

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

102. https://showyourstripes.info/

103. CHECK:
Simple.
Bold.
Stories.
@ZLabe
Questions!
ZACHARY LABE | 29 APRIL 2022| ATS 655 | COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY