visualization

Visualization of Earth's key climatic indicators over time

NASA's Climate Time Machine allows users to explore how various indicators of the Earth's climate have changed over time and what the impact of further changes could be. The climatic indicators explored in the visualization are sea ice, sea level, carbon dioxide, and global temperature.

Click here to use NASA's Climate Time Machine visualization 

Source: NASA

 

Interactive map of the U.S. energy sector's vulnerabilities to climatic conditions

The U.S. Department of Energy's interactive map of the energy sector's climatic vulnerabilities allows users to explore how climatic events have impacted the energy sector over recent years. You can view how impacts due to increasing temperatures, decreased water availability, and increasing storms, floods, and sea level rise have adversely affected energy resource development, distribution, production, and transmission.

Click here to use the interactive map.

Visualization of average per person energy use for each state

The U.S. Department of Energy's visualization of per person energy use allows you to explore what the average energy usage for your state looks like in the form of burritos, dynamite, and other more relatable metrics. Because most people can't visualize what it means to use 148,600,000 BTU, this visualization is particularly useful for putting personal energy usage into perspective.

The data for this visualization come from the EIA State Energy Data System and represent 2012 energy use.

Visualization of drought in California

The U.S. Geological Survey provides a website of visualizations that show how California's extreme drought in the early-mid 2010s progressed through the early-mid part of the decade and then was relieved with significant rain and snowfall in 2016-2017. Visualizations of the extent and severity of drought, change in reservoir volumes, and streamflow compared to historic rates are all available on the website, which you scroll through to see different features.

Click here to see the visualization of California's drought

Visualization of ash cloud predictions from Mount St. Helens

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program's visualization shows the projected ash cloud for three differently-sized, hypothetical eruptions of Mount St. Helens. The visualizations depict a simulation of the spread of volcanic ash, based on a combination of wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and volcanologist-derived eruption size parameters.

Visualization of a predictive model for weather hazards

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) has created a visualization of their high-resolution global ocean-atmosphere-land-ice FLOR model. The FLOR model uses ocean, atmospheric, and other water-related data to improve understanding and prediction of the range of climate extremes. The outputs of the FLOR model have been used to understand predictability, change, and mechanisms of a range of climatic events including tropical cyclones, drought, rainfall and temperature over land, and changes in Arctic sea ice.

Interactive map of fault activity in California

The California Geological Survey's interactive map allows users to identify the location and classification of faults throughout California. Information available includes the age of the most recent activity on each fault segment, surface rupture areas, and whether or not the faults are visible at the surface.

Click here to use the California fault activity map.

Source: California Geological Survey

Interactive map of the surface geology of Texas

This interactive map from the U.S. Geological Survey allows users to explore the surface geology of Texas and bordering regions of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Users can navigate the map with the click-and-point tool, or by using the location search tool to find common geographic place names, latitude/longitude coordinates, and other areas of interest.

Click here to use the Texas surface geology map 

Source: USGS Texas Water Science Center

Interactive map of natural hazards worldwide

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's natural hazards viewer shows a variety of recent and historic natural hazards around the world. The interactive map provides data for a range of natural hazards, including tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. Users can select individual hazards to learn more about the date of occurrence, location, severity, economic impact, and social impact.

Click here to use the NOAA natural hazards viewer

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