Warming stripes (sometimes referred to as climate stripes or climate timelines) are
graphics that use a series of chronologically ordered coloured stripes to visualize trends in the
temperature record of Earth. They employ a minimalist style, avoiding technical distractions by using colour alone to intuitively convey trends in
global warming to non-scientists. The initial concept of visualizing historical temperature data has been extended to use
animations, to visualize sea level rise and predictive climate data, and to visually juxtapose temperature trends with other data series, such as the concentration of
carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere,
global glacier retreat,
precipitation, the
contribution of aviation emissions to global warming, and
biodiversity loss. These warming stripes were published by the British climatologist
Ed Hawkins in 2018, using data from the
World Meteorological Organization. The colours represent the annual mean global temperature for each year from 1850 (left) to 2018 (right) – the progression from blue (cooler) to red (warmer) stripes is indicative of global warming.Graphic credit:
Ed Hawkins
Warming stripes (sometimes referred to as climate stripes or climate timelines) are
graphics that use a series of chronologically ordered coloured stripes to visualize trends in the
temperature record of Earth. They employ a minimalist style, avoiding technical distractions by using colour alone to intuitively convey trends in
global warming to non-scientists. The initial concept of visualizing historical temperature data has been extended to use
animations, to visualize sea level rise and predictive climate data, and to visually juxtapose temperature trends with other data series, such as the concentration of
carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere,
global glacier retreat,
precipitation, the
contribution of aviation emissions to global warming, and
biodiversity loss. These warming stripes were published by the British climatologist
Ed Hawkins in 2018, using data from the
World Meteorological Organization. The colours represent the annual mean global temperature for each year from 1850 (left) to 2018 (right) – the progression from blue (cooler) to red (warmer) stripes is indicative of global warming.Graphic credit:
Ed Hawkins