Methods to Enhance Climate Change Imagery for Communication

One of the commonly used tools used in communicating climate change to non-experts is data visualization. Images of measurements, model results, and physical processes can be powerful for enhancing understanding of complex scientific topics. However, many of the graphics that are used in public communication were designed for scientific peers, and not lay audiences. These graphics can often be improved by applying principles drawn from graphic design and information visualization. This presentation will offer case studies of graphics from NASA press releases and the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and show how they could have been improved. The revised imagery maintains the content of the originals, but presents it more clearly. I will also show an example of imagery that employs these ideas that we have published on the NASA Earth Observatory web site.