25 August 2016
176 Years of Global Temperatures in One Image
Posted by Dan Satterfield
From Ed Hawkins at The Univ, of Reading.
The visualisation technique of ‘small multiples’ is often used to communicate a simple message. The above example shows maps of temperature change from 1850-2016 – the overall warming trend is obvious even though the details are fuzzy.
Technical details: The HadCRUT4.4 dataset is used with anomalies from a 1961-1990 baseline period. An annual average for a particular grid cell and year is only shown if 6 or more months have data, otherwise it is coloured grey. 2016 is for the year to date. The colour scale runs from around -2.5C to +2.5C.
Note: Hat tip to Dr. Marshall Shepherd at UGA for spotting this.