Visualizing global temperature trends

In January 2014, NASA released a report on 2013 global surface temperatures revealing that "the average  temperature in 2013 was 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (14.6 degrees Celsius), which is 1.1 °F (0.6 °C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline" and tied with 2006 and 2009 for the seventh warmest year since 1880. Accompanying graphics and an animation of  global temperatures from 1950 through the end of 2013 are also available along with a written summary of the results (pdf) by Dr. James Hansen. This summary also contains graphics and visualizations that can be useful in the classroom. Furthermore, you can generate a surface temperature anomaly or trend map using the following tool and the resulting map can be downloaded as a pdf - the map below is one I created showing December 2013 temperature anomalies relative to 1951-1980 base period. The visualization reveals that this month brought exceptionally cooler temperatures in North America and warmer than average temperatures to northeast Europe and Siberia.

Another tool that might be useful when discussing temperature trends up through 2012 is a new Google Earth/Google Maps tool that shows how land surface temperature has changed since as far back as 1850 for some regions. The University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit divided Earth's land surfaces into equally sized grid cells and calculated the average annual temperature for each cell using temperature data acquired from monitoring equipment. You'll notice that the cells appear either red or green but these colors are not indicative of a particular trend. In order to view the annual (and seasonal) surface temperature trend (an corresponding data) for a particular cell, simply click on that cell and a graphic will appear that shows the temperature anomaly from the 1961-1990 mean. Below is the graphic for the cell that includes the area of North Carolina in which I live. To learn more about this tool click here. You could use this tool with students to examine seasonal trends for a region, to examine different regions of the globe and to emphasize that there are places on the globe where there is not adequate data for trend analysis due to short temperature records and/or lack of monitoring stations.

Educators Guide to NASA Earth Science Images and Data

The Educators Guide to NASA Earth Science Images and Data is a free booklet (available in pdf) designed with teachers in mind. The guide organizes NASA Earth science data and imagery into three sections: Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced and you can also use the guide to find relevant imagery and data from specific NASA missions. In addition, there are Educator’s Tool Belt sections found throughout the booklet that offer examples of how teachers have incorporated certain resources into their science instruction.

New report on Abrupt Climate Change

The National Academies of Science defines abrupt climate change "as large and rapid changes in the physical climate system. [These] changes take place within years to decades, unfold faster than expected, planned for, or budgeted for and leave little time for society and ecosystems to adapt." In December 2013, the National Research Council released a report on abrupt climate change that highlights the abrupt climate changes that are already underway such as the disappearance of late-summer Arctic sea ice as well as describes the abrupt changes that are unlikely to occur in this century.
 
According to the National Academies of Science, the report, Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises "summarizes the current state of knowledge on potential abrupt changes to the ocean, atmosphere, ecosystems, and high latitude areas, and identifies key research and monitoring needs. The report calls for action to develop an abrupt change early warning system to help anticipate future abrupt changes and reduce their impacts." The report can be read online or is available for free download as pdf. In addition to the report, a slideshow of images and figures related to the report is available, along with a 4-page summary.  The webcast of the December 3 public briefing and the slides used during the presentation are also available.

Artistic interpretation of the most recent IPCC report

The entire IPCC Report in 19 Illustrated Haiku is really neat and worth taking a look at - this work represents one oceanographer’s attempt to distill into Haiku the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report - Summary for Policymakers.

The author has made his work available for download in a variety of formats.

• Presentation: All slides, full size (PDF)
• Print-out: All slides, 6 per page (PDF)
• Booklet: Slides arranged with instructions to cut and fold into a booklet (PDF)
• Video (2:28 minutes, not downloadable)

I’d love to hear what you think of this and if you end up using with students please tell me how you use – perhaps students could be tasked with finding quantitative data from the IPCC report (or other reputable source) to complement/support each illustration?

Animated graphics from Climate Communication

The folks at Climate Communication have created short animations to walk viewers through ten graphics that are often used to communicate climate science.  For example there is an animation that is used to describe the Keeling curve in the chapter titled heat-trapping gases.  Each animation is accompanied by background information and is placed within the context of a larger story; the content on the site is organized into three sections: Our Climate is Changing, How it Will Affect Us, and What We Can Do? Additional resources for educators are also available.

NOAA View Data Imagery Portal for Educators

The NOAA View Data Imagery Portal was designed with educators in mind!  Here you will find easy access to NOAA data visualizations pertaining to oceans, atmosphere, land, cryosphere and climate. Depending on the data set you select, daily, weekly, monthly and/or yearly visualizations are available. You can adjust the visualization to view as an animation or view a particular date or time period and by clicking the "data values" box, you can obtain quantitative data for a particular area of interest. For each image, a description with background information and links to related resources is available; images can be downloaded as high resolution images or Google Earth files.  A 2 minute video tutorial is available.

The screen shot below is of sea surface temperature for the week of Nov 25, 2013.

NASA Interactive Poster

This interactive visualization from NASA features images from over a dozen Earth observation missions, providing 25 unique views of Earth's atmosphere, biosphere, land surface, solid Earth, and ocean. Clicking on a tile will take you to a visualization of a data set from a particular mission. The image below shows a visualization of land surface temperature acquired from data collected by the Aqua satellite. Additional tabs reveal details about the mission and links to additional resources.

The artwork on the main page was  developed for the NASA Earth Science Week 2013 Mapping Our World poster which is available for download (pdf). Additional resources to accompany this interactive visualization are available from the Educational Resources section.