Viz4Climate: High-Impact Techniques for Visual Climate Science Communication

Join us for a half-day hybrid workshop at Vis 2022

Monday, October 17th @ 2:00pm - 5:00pm CDT (UTC-5)
Omni Oklahoma City Hotel - Level Two, Oklahoma Station 8
Oklahoma City, USA - In person & virtual

Contact us! (viz4climate@gmail.com)
VIS 2022 Registration

About

Communicating climate science to the general public is necessary to enhance salience, understanding, and engagement and to accelerate action. Visualizations of climate data offer an integral way of communicating climate change findings to diverse audiences; however it is challenging due to the multi-dimensionality of data, the complexity of science, the diversity of users, their biases, and needs across different stakeholder groups. While graphics support thinking and enhance storytelling, creating data visualizations of climate data that can overcome comprehension difficulties, avoid misconceptions, preserve scientific integrity and instill trust remains a challenge.

Goal

The goal of the #Viz4Climate workshop is to bring together practitioners, researchers, data journalists, and visualization enthusiasts to share and discuss what high impact means in the context of visual climate data communication. To this end, we are hosting a keynote from Ed Hawkins (creator of the Warming Stripes ), a diverse set of authors whose work was accepted to our EnLightening session, and a divergent panel (from scientist and researchers to artists) to offer critiques, definitions and explorations on the theme of the workshop. Join the discussion and idea exchange!

Program

The workshop is hybrid and offers Q&A and co-creation sessions. These sessions will take place on virtual platforms to offer a unified experience. In person workshop attendees are highly encouraged to have access to a laptop or mobile device.

  • 2:00pm
  • Welcome
    Helen-Nicole Kostis, Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA
  • Co-creation session - Runs virtually alongside the rest of the workshop.
  • 2:10pm
  • Keynote
    Ed Hawkins, University of Reading, Starting Climate Conversations with Data Visualizations
    Promotional poster for the keynote talk with Ed Hawkins
  • 2:35pm

  • EnLightening Session (part 1)
    Session Chairs: Helen-Nicole Kostis, Andrew Christensen, Kel Elkins, Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA

    Virtual Presentations
    • A 3D rendering of the Earth sits on a light blue background. Large colorful splotches appear in the atmosphere above the United Kingdom, Iceland, and Greenland
      • A 4D Visualization of Unaccounted Global Methane Emissions from Gas Platforms in the North Sea
      • Valentin Buck, Flemming Stäbler, Everardo González, Christian Scharun
    • A 3D rendering of the Earth, facing downwards at the Arctic Circle. A large field of stars appears in the background
      • Cinematic Scientific Visualization for the Documentary Film "Atlas of a Changing Earth"
      • Kalina Borkiewicz, Stuart Levy, Jeffrey D Carpenter, Donna Cox, Robert Patterson, AJ Christensen
    • A man is giving a presentation in front of a screen. Visible in the background is a number of people teleconferencing in
      • LandSAGE: Southeast Asia Program for Visualization-Rich Landslide Management
      • Jason Haga, Jason Leigh, Mores Prachyabrued
    • An augmented reality map of a city sits on a table. Rising out of the map are a series of colorful blocks in red, orange, yellow, and white
      • Ocellus XR
      • Daniel Sauter, Timon McPhearson, Christopher Kennedy
    • A colorful illustration of whales and the sea. A chart depicting a number of circles is placed at the left-hand side of the image
      • Finding Arcadia: humanized interactive data-story for action-focused climate change engagement
      • Marta Ferreira, Valentina Nisi, Nuno Jardim Nunes
    • A sea of green dots appear over a black background. The dots are arranged into the shape of kelp. At the bottom of the image, a timeline is visible
      • Medusae & Diving into an Acidifying Ocean
      • Cristina Tarquini
    • A colorful interactive map of Hawaii is projected onto a table. At the left side of the image, a number of colorful pie charts are visible
      • Visualization for Island Climate Resilience
      • Jason Leigh, Mahdi Belcaid, Ryan Theriot, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Roderick S Tabalba Jr., Michael L. Rogers, Eva Moralez Peres, Kari Noe
  • 3:15pm
  • Coffee break ☕ ️paired with screening of climate science visualizations
  • 3:45pm

  • EnLightening Session (part 2)
    Session Chairs: Helen-Nicole Kostis, Andrew Christensen, Kel Elkins, Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA

    In-person Presentations
    • A circular chart with a colorful spiral going around it. The outer edges of the circle are red; the inside yellow; and the center blue
      • NASA Climate Spiral
      • Mark SubbaRao
    • A 3D rendering of a small valley in the Antarctic. Shapes and swirls dot the landscape. Near the top of the image, a mountain can beseen poking through what looks like a sea of clouds.
      • Antarctic Water Masses, Sculpted Visualizations
      • Francesca Samsel, Jung Who Nam, Greg Abram, Mark Petersen
    • A map of the Earth covered in dark orange, brown, and yellow smog.
      • NASA Visualization of Global Carbon Dioxide
      • AJ Christensen, Helen-Nicole Kostis, Mark SubbaRao, Greg Shirah, Horace Mitchell
    • A number of springs of varying sizes are attached to a fabric-covered wooden board
      • Using KiriPhys to Show Expanding Carbon Emissions
      • Foroozan Daneshzand, Charles Perin, Sheelagh Carpendale
  • 4:05pm
  • Panel Session - What does High-Impact mean in the context of Visual Climate Science Communication?
    Session Chairs: Mark Subbarao, Andrew Christensen, Kel Elkins, Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA
    A promotional poster for the panel. Headshots of the speakers are lined up next to eachother with their names below
    Min Chen, University of Oxford
    Andrea Polli, The University of New Mexico
    Zachary Labe, Princeton University & NOAA GFDL
    Reyhaneh Maktoufi, Tangled Bank Studios
    Mark Subbarao, Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA/GSFC
  • 4:55pm
  • Closing remarks
    Helen-Nicole Kostis, Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA