Yet another report released this week has sounded the alarm on climate change. This one focuses on the deadly wildfires that swept through California and how they may be a taster of the devastation to come.
Researchers found that the Golden State could face an almost 50% increase in the number of big wildfires by 2050, and, if the forecast has it right, the average area burned would surge by 77% over that time period.
“In California, facts and science still matter,” Gov. Jerry Brown said in a tweet referring to the report. “These findings are profoundly serious and will continue to guide us as we confront the apocalyptic threat of irreversible climate change.”
In the spirit of science mattering, Antti Lipponen, a research scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, found a fresh way to illustrate rising temps. His efforts paid off in social currency this week, with this video getting shared more than 17,000 times since he posted it on Twitter TWTR, -1.28% over the weekend.
Lipponen’s visualization shows how most countries have warmed by at least one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), and all except Kiribati have seen temperatures rise by at least 0.5 degrees Celsius since 1880.
Using NASA data, the size of the circles indicates how much temperatures have changed relative to the average between 1951 and 1980. Shades of blue are obviously cooler while shades of orange and red indicate warming. By the end, red dominates.
“No matter how you visualize it, it looks scary!” Lipponen said.
