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!

3.
NOW
Start of
satellite-era

4.
DATA VISUALIZATION
IS STORY-TELLING.
Arctic temperature anomalies from 1950 to 2021

5.
DON’T BE
SUCH A
SCIENTIST
WE ARE
DATA
SCIENTISTS
ART BY JILL PELTO

6.
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
“
”

7.
WHAT ARE YOUR
WORST FIGURES?

8.
My first map subplot?

9.
LABE
ET
AL.
2017,
CLIMATE
DYNAMICS

10.
Arctic sea ice thickness variability
and the atmospheric circulation
Zachary M. Labe
Gudrun Magnusdottir
2 June 2016

11.
BEGINNING WITH
OUR DATA.

12.
LINE GRAPHS
Temperature
Anomaly
(°C)

13.
:)

14.
MAP PLOTS

15.
YIKES!

16.
YIKES – FONT IS BLEH!

17.
YIKES – COLOR!

18.
MAP PROJECTION!

19.
:)

20.
HAVE FUN!

21.
LEVERAGING ALL
DIMENSIONS OF
YOUR DATA.

22.
I have a 2D-array of sea ice thickness
anomaly data [year,day]…
Each line is one day
Number of Years
Thickness
Anomaly
(m)

23.
https://seaborn.pydata.org/examples/index.html

24.
https://betterfigures.org/2012/09/15/decadal-temperatures/
Error bars and graphical clutter…

25.
https://betterfigures.org/2012/09/15/decadal-temperatures/
Error bars and graphical clutter…

26.
https://betterfigures.org/2012/09/15/decadal-temperatures/
Error bars and graphical clutter…

27.
SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE.

28.
DANISH
METEOROLOGICAL
INSTITUTE

29.
SCIENCE OF DESIGN.

30.
cmap = ‘jet’

31.
STOELZLE AND STEIN, 2021, HESS

32.
1998!

33.
Citations on Google Scholar…

34.
Check out: https://betterfigures.org/2018/06/04/playing-hunt-the-discontinuity/

35.
2004!

36.
WESTAWAY, 2022, GC

37.
WESTAWAY, 2022, GC

38.
SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

39.
SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

40.
SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

41.
SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

42.
SCHNEIDER
AND
NOCKE,
2017

43.
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

44.
BY FABIO CRAMERI

45.
BY FABIO CRAMERI

46.
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

47.
PALETTABLE - PYTHON

48.
TURBO
https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/08/turbo-improved-rainbow-colormap-for.html

49.
OTHER OPTIONS
THYNG ET AL. 2016; OCEANOGRAPHY

50.
CMOCEAN
THYNG ET AL. 2016; OCEANOGRAPHY

51.
CMASHER
“Scientific colormaps for making accessible,
informative and cmashing plots”

52.
Adapted from Ed Hawkins at betterfigures.org

53.
Adjusting axes (spines)

54.
Changing font styles

55.
1. Seaborn.
2. Plotly.
3. ggplot.
4. Matplotlib v3.
RESOURCES

56.
1. https://betterfigures.org/
2. https://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/
3. http://colorbrewer2.org/
RESOURCES

57.
LABE
ET
AL.
2019,
GRL
Bring drama to your data story

58.
LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL

59.
LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL
STRONGER
POLAR VORTEX
Zonal wind
at 10 hPa
Geopotential
at 30 hPa

60.
WEAKER
POLAR VORTEX
Zonal wind
at 10 hPa
Geopotential
at 30 hPa
LABE ET AL. 2019, GRL

61.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

62.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

63.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

64.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

65.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

66.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

67.
2-m
TEMPERATURE
Future minus Pre-Industrial PEINGS, LABE ET AL. 2021, JCLI

68.
Perceiving internal climate variability
WITT, LABE ET AL. 2022; submitted

69.
MAKING ACCESSIBLE
FIGURES.

70.
ACCESSIBILITY

71.
ACCESSIBILITY

72.
ACCESSIBILITY

73.
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

74.
VISUALIZING
GLOBAL
TEMPERATURE
CHANGE

75.
2016 RIO OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY

76.
PLOT BY ED HAWKINS

77.
PLOT BY ED HAWKINS
DON’T BE
SUCH A
SCIENTIST
WE ARE
DATA
SCIENTISTS

78.
https://showyourstripes.info/

79.
CHECK:
Simple.
Bold.
Stories.
@ZLabe
Questions!
https://zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-ice-figures/
ZACHARY LABE | 23 NOVEMBER 22| GFDL LUNCHTIME SEMINAR