The topic of climate change inspires a lot of debate. At NASA, it has also inspired a lot of science. NASA scientists examine the Earth’s climate and how it is changing – gaining knowledge (or insight?) through decades of satellite observations, powerful computer models and expert scientific analysis. Over the course of this month, these […]
The Nuts and Bolts of Designing a Color Palette Knowing what makes a good palette for visualization, how to find and apply good examples, or create one from scratch? In my mind the best place to start is Color Brewer. Cynthia Brewer’s tool is popular for a reason: it explains the theory behind palette design, […]
A special congratulations to Cyndy Hunting for being our first reader to work out that the August puzzler showed Garden and Hog islands in northern Lake Michigan. After 19 puzzlers, this was the first time the correct answer came in as a comment on our Facebook page. Just a few hours after Cyndy nailed the […]
Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The nineteenth puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer […]
Pretty much any dataset can be categorized as one of three types—sequential, divergent, and qualitative—each suited to a different color scheme.
There are several types of data, each suited to different types of display.
Yesterday’s Image of the Day — Ocean Revealed — elicited an interesting response from Norman Kuring, a NASA oceanographer who frequently contributes to the Earth Observatory. He notes: “There have indeed been a number of studies that exploit sunglint for ocean research since Paul Scully-Power made his statement. However, I disagree with the follow-on sentence that, “his […]
Wildfires follow a simple but dangerous equation: Hotter, dryer conditions + more people in the world = a greater likelihood of ferocious wildfires threatening lives and property. Fires in the western United States are burning earlier, longer and with more intensity, as shown by a decades-long record from ground surveys and NASA satellites. How much of […]
Despite the near-ubiquity of the rainbow palette—which distorts patterns in the underlying data—the basics of using color to represent numerical data are well-established.
