Data Sources & Visualizations
Derivative made from "Science on a Sphere - Smithsonian Natural History" by woodleywonderworks licensed under CC BY 2.0. Click on the image above to learn more about Smithsonian's Science on a Sphere initiative.
The following are publicly-available sources for data on the climate crisis, and examples of visualizations that help make such complex topics accessible to a wider audience.
Canada
- Climatedata.caClimatedata.ca is a climate information portal that enables Canadians to access, visualize, and analyze climate data, and provides related information and tools to support adaptation planning and decision-making. This portal is a collaboration between Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Computer Research Institute of Montréal (CRIM), Ouranos, the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), the Prairie Climate Centre (PCC), and HabitatSevern to provide
- Historical Climate DataGovernment of Canada provides access to historical weather, climate data, and related information for numerous locations across Canada. Temperature, precipitation, degree days, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, monthly summaries, averages, extremes and Climate Normals, are some of the information you will find on this site.
- Open Government PortalThe Open Government Portal by the Government of Canada provides a collection of climate data.
- Scholars Portal DataverseCanadian hosted data repositories which collect research data from various Canadian universities.
- Statistics CanadaCanada's national statistical office. The site provides access to StatsCan data, data analysis and data visualization tools.
World
- Climate Change Data Portal (CCDP)Developed by Xander Wang, University of Regina. It provides dynamically-downscaled climate projections over Canada and China.
- Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP)Developed by The World Bank Group, the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP) provides global data on historical and future climate, vulnerabilities, and impacts.
- The IRI/LDEO Climate Data LibraryThe IRI Data Library is a powerful and freely accessible online data repository and analysis tool that allows a user to view, analyze, and download hundreds of terabytes of climate-related data through a standard web browser.
- National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)NECI is the world's largest provider of weather and climate, managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It has merged three data centers formerly known as the National Climatic Data Center, the National Geophysical Data Center, and the National Oceanographic Data Center.
- OECD iLibraryOECD iLibrary has a collection of statistics with a wide range of topics, such as air and climate, energy, environmental policy, waste and son.
- UNdata DatasetsFrom the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Includes the Energy Statistics Database and Environment Statistics Database.
- World Data BankDevelopment-oriented statistics from the World Bank: social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators for over 200 countries and 18 country groups, covering 1960 to the present.
- Data Distribution Centre (DDC)The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s DDC provides climate, socio-economic and environmental data, both from the past and also in scenarios projected into the future.
- Emission Factor Database (EFDB)The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s EFDB is meant to be a recognised library, where users can find emission factors and other parameters with background documentation or technical references that can be used for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and removals.
Data Visualizations
Data visualizations help convey complex topics like climate change in a manner that is accessible and comprehensible. Check out the following examples, some of which are customizable to visualize location-specific data.
Many of these visualizations and more can be found in the article The Best Data Viz and Infographics on Climate Change Facts by Orana Velarde. Click on the title link to find the source of the visualization.
For images that are evidence-based and focused on making climate change relatable and compelling, see Climate Visuals.
#ShowYourStripes Global Temperature Change from 1901 to 2020
Retrieved from showyourstripes.info, created by Professor Ed Hawkins (University of Reading), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Go to ShowYourStripes to create similar visualizations for specific regions!
Climate Action Venn Diagrams by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
