Warming Stripes Spark Climate Conversations: From the Ocean to the Stratosphere
Abstract The “warming stripes” are an iconic climate data visualization, adopted globally as a symbol of our warming world. We discuss their origin and uses for communication, including understanding long-term changes in the climate and consequences of future emission choices. We also extend the stripes concept to explore observed temperature variations throughout the climate system, revealing coherent warming for the troposphere and upper ocean and cooling in the stratosphere, consistent with our understanding of human influences on our climate.
Authors
- Doug Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5708-694X)
- Vassil Roussenov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4128-9712)
- Paul Jeffrey Young (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3428-3083)
- Bernadette Woods Placky
- Richard G. Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3180-7558)
- William J. Randel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5999-7162)
- Ed Hawkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9477-3677)
- Samantha Burgess (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0943-9664)
- Ellie Highwood
- Jeff Berardelli
Institutions
- NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
- Met Office (GB)
- Climate Central (US)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (GB)
- Committee on Climate Change (GB)
- Newcastle College (GB)
- National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB)
- AdventHealth Tampa (US)
- Skipton General Hospital (GB)
- University of Reading (GB)
- Newcastle University (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
- Published
- 2025-04-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-24-0212.1
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.74