(ORDO NEWS) — Climate change is out of control and it has never been easier to see. The winding spiral of global temperatures from 1880 to 2021 is practically a whirlpool of threat.
The animation is based on NASA GISS surface temperature analysis data and was developed by climatologist Ed Hawkins, who is best known for creating the original climate bands.
Hawkins, who works at the University of Reading in the UK, is interested in organizing climate data in a way that is easy to understand and remember.
In 2016, his first “climate spiral” went viral on the internet. The way the animation represented our current climate crisis was beautifully simple and frighteningly gritty. It was even used at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Now the spiral is back, and just five years later, its gaping maw is wider than ever.
Each month of each year that passes through this circular calendar records a rotating line of global surface temperature data.
As the years begin to add up, the data line takes on a tape-like shape. However, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the line begins to spread outward, creating a semblance of a tornado.
By the turn of the century, the belt is expanding outward at an alarming rate. Between 2016 and 2021, it crosses the yellow border several times, indicating one degree of warming.
July 2021 marks the hottest month on record in the Northern Hemisphere. It can be seen at about six o’clock on the climate spiral.
So far, this record is unprecedented, but it will no doubt have company soon. All of the past nine years are among the 10 hottest on record. Not even a global pandemic seems to be able to slow our trajectory.
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