British climate scientist known for data visualization graphics
Edward Hawkins
MBE
[ 4] (born 1977)
[ 3] is a British climate scientist who is Professor of
climate science at the
University of Reading ,
[ 1] principal research scientist at the
National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), editor of Climate Lab Book blog
[ 5] and lead scientist for the Weather Rescue
citizen science project.
[ 6]
[ 7] He is known for his
data visualizations of
climate change for the general public such as
warming stripes
[ 8] and
climate spirals .
[ 9]
[ 10]
[ 11]
Hawkins was educated at the
University of Nottingham where he was awarded a
PhD in astrophysics in 2003 for research supervised by Steve Maddox that investigated
galaxy clustering in large
redshift surveys .
[ 2]
After his PhD, Hawkins served as a
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) advanced
research fellow in the department of
meteorology at the
University of Reading from 2005 to 2013.
[ 12]
One of Hawkins' early
warming stripes graphics shows global warming from 1850 (left side of graphic) to 2018 (right side of graphic).
[ 13] Being a "minimalist graphic stripped (of) unnecessary clutter",
[ 14] warming stripes portray observed global warming with blue stripes (cooler years) progressing to predominantly red stripes (warmer years).
Climate spiral shows global warming since 1850 as an ever-widening coloured spiral
As of 2023
[update] Hawkins is a professor of
climate science at the
University of Reading ,
[ 15] where he serves as academic lead for
public engagement and is affiliated with the
National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS).
[ 16] He is a lead for Weather Rescue and Rainfall Rescue, citizen science projects in which volunteers transcribe data from historical meteorological and rainfall records for digital analysis.
[ 17]
[ 18]
Hawkins was a contributing author for the
IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2014)
[ 19] and was a lead author for the
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report in 2021.
[ 20]
On 9 May 2016, Hawkins published his
climate spiral
data visualization graphic,
[ 21] which was widely reported as having
gone viral .
[ 11]
[ 22]
[ 23] The climate spiral was widely praised,
Jason Samenow writing in
The Washington Post that the spiral graph was "the most compelling global warming visualization ever made".
[ 24]
On 22 May 2018, Hawkins published his
warming stripes data visualization graphic,
[ 25] which has been used by meteorologists in
Climate Central 's annual #
MetsUnite campaign to raise public awareness of global warming during broadcasts on the
summer solstice .
[ 26] Hawkins' similar #ShowYourStripes initiative, in which the public could freely download and share graphics customized to specific countries or localities, was launched on 17 June 2019.
[ 26] The warming stripes graphic is used in the logo of the
U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis from 2019 onwards.
[ 27]
Hawkins' climate spiral design was on the shortlist for the Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards 2016,
[ 28] the design having been featured in the opening ceremony of the August
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
[ 29]
Hawkins was awarded the
Royal Meteorological Society ’s Climate Science Communication Prize in 2017.
[ 20]
In 2018, Hawkins was awarded the
Kavli Medal by the
Royal Society "for significant contributions to understanding and quantifying natural climate variability and long-term climate change, and for actively communicating climate science and its various implications with broad audiences".
[ 20]
In July 2019, Hawkins was included in the Climate Home News list of ten climate
influencers .
[ 30]
Hawkins was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the
2020 New Year Honours "For services to Climate Science and to Science Communication".
[ 4]
In June 2021, Hawkins was named in
The Sunday Times "Green Power List" which profiled twenty environmentalists in the UK who are "minds engaging with the world’s biggest problem".
[ 31]
In May 2024, Hawkins received the
Royal Geographical Society 's Geographical Engagement Award for his work in developing warming stripes.
[ 32]
According to Google Scholar
[ 1]
[ 33]
[ 34] his most highly cited publications include:
The Potential to Narrow Uncertainty in Regional Climate Predictions
[ 35]
The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: correlation functions, peculiar velocities and the matter density of the Universe
[ 36]
Decadal Prediction: Can It Be Skillful?
[ 37]
Global risk of deadly heat
[ 38]
^
a
b
c
Ed Hawkins publications indexed by
Google Scholar
^
a
b Hawkins, Ed (2003).
Galaxy clustering in large redshift surveys . nottingham.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Nottingham.
OCLC
1365479150 .
EThOS
uk.bl.ethos.272578 .
^
a
b Anon (2013).
"Dr Edward Hawkins" . gov.uk . London:
Companies House . Archived from
the original on 30 January 2023.
^
a
b
"No. 62866" .
The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N18.
Archived from the original on 28 December 2019.
^ Hawkins, Ed (2022).
"Climate Lab Book: Open Climate Science" . climate-lab-book.ac.uk .
^ Andrew M. Lorrey; Petra R. Pearce; Rob Allan; et al. (June 2022). "Meteorological data rescue: Citizen science lessons learned from Southern Weather Discovery". Patterns . 3 (6): 100495.
doi :
10.1016/J.PATTER.2022.100495 .
ISSN
2666-3899 .
Wikidata
Q114305499 .
^
Ed Hawkins ; Rowan Sutton (11 April 2010). "The potential to narrow uncertainty in projections of regional precipitation change".
Climate Dynamics . 37 (1–2): 407–418.
doi :
10.1007/S00382-010-0810-6 .
ISSN
0930-7575 .
Wikidata
Q58388456 .
^ Anon (2023).
" 'Manchester is red', climate data shows before FA Cup tie" . reading.ac.uk . University of Reading. Archived from
the original on 28 January 2023.
^ Harvey, Chelsea (28 July 2016).
"Scientists have found a perfect illustration of how the climate is spiraling 'out of control' " .
The Washington Post .
Archived from the original on 11 July 2019.
^ Kahn, Brian (25 May 2018).
"This Climate Visualization Belongs in a Damn Museum" .
Gizmodo .
Archived from the original on 19 June 2019.
^
a
b Staff, Science AF (25 May 2018).
"This Has Got to Be One of The Most Beautiful And Powerful Climate Change Visuals We've Ever Seen" . Science Alert .
Archived from the original on 28 June 2019.
^
"Ed Hawkins" .
Archived from the original on 27 August 2019.
^ Hawkins, Ed (4 December 2018).
"2018 visualisation update / Warming stripes for 1850-2018 using the WMO annual global temperature dataset" . Climate Lab Book .
Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. (
Direct link to image ).
^ Kahn, Brian (17 June 2019).
"This Striking Climate Change Visualization Is Now Customizable for Any Place on Earth" .
Gizmodo .
Archived from the original on 26 June 2019.
^
"Professor Ed Hawkins" .
University of Reading .
Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019 .
^
"Professor Ed Hawkins, Professor, NCAS Climate" .
University of Reading .
Archived from the original on 26 August 2019.
^ Johnson, Scott K. (22 March 2019).
"You can help "rescue" weather data from the 1860s" .
Ars Technica .
Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. (re Weather Rescue)
^
Harvey, Fiona (26 March 2020).
"Call for isolated Britons to help digitise historical rainfall data" .
The Guardian .
Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. (Re Rainfall Rescue)
^
"WG1AR5_TS_FINAL / TS Technical Summary / Contributing Authors" (PDF) . Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019 .
^
a
b
c
"Our changing climate: learning from the past to inform future choices / Prize lecture" . London:
Royal Society . 30 April 2019.
Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Hawkins described his spiral graph and warming stripes in his
Kavli prize lecture (video embedded in reference).
^ Hawkins, Ed (9 May 2016).
"Spiralling global temperatures" . Climate Lab Book .
Archived from the original on 16 August 2019.
^ Mooney, Chris (11 May 2019).
"This scientist just changed how we think about climate change with one GIF" .
The Washington Post .
Archived from the original on 6 February 2019.
^ Meduna, Veronika (17 September 2018).
"The climate visualisations that leave no room for doubt or denial" . The Spinoff . New Zealand.
Archived from the original on 17 May 2019.
^ Samenow, Jason (10 May 2016).
"Unraveling spiral: The most compelling global warming visualization ever made" .
The Washington Post .
Archived from the original on 22 February 2019.
^ Hawkins, Ed (22 May 2018).
"Warming stripes" . Climate Lab Book . UK.
Archived from the original on 26 May 2018.
^
a
b Macdonald, Ted (25 June 2019).
"TV meteorologists kicked off the summer by talking about climate change / #MetsUnite and #ShowYourStripes campaign highlighted the importance of climate communication" .
Media Matters .
Archived from the original on 26 June 2019.
^
"United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis / About" . climatecrisis.house.gov .
United States House of Representatives . 2019.
Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Crediting Shawna Faison and House Creative Services.
^
"Climate spirals" . informationisbeautifulawards.com . KANTAR Information is Beautiful. October 2016.
Archived from the original on 23 August 2019.
^ Irfan, Umair (30 May 2019).
"Why this climate change data is on flip-flops, leggings, and cars / Warming stripes keep showing up on clothes and crafts" . Vox .
Archived from the original on 24 June 2019.
^ Sauer, Natalie (16 July 2019).
"Non-Green MEPs largely ignore climate on Twitter" . Climate Home News (climatechangenews.com) .
Archived from the original on 31 August 2019.
^ Spencer, Ben (14 June 2021).
"The Carbon Brief: Daily Briefing / Green power list 2021: the UK's top 20 environmentalists" .
The Sunday Times .
Archived from the original on 22 June 2021.
^
"Society's 2024 medal and award recipients announced" . Royal Geographical Society. 7 May 2024.
Archived from the original on 9 May 2024.
^
Ed Hawkins publications from
Europe PubMed Central
^
Ed Hawkins publications indexed by the
Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
^
Ed Hawkins ; Rowan Sutton (August 2009). "The Potential to Narrow Uncertainty in Regional Climate Predictions".
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society . 90 (8): 1095–1108.
doi :
10.1175/2009BAMS2607.1 .
ISSN
0003-0007 .
Wikidata
Q58388472 .
^
E. Hawkins ; S. Maddox;
S. Cole ; et al. (21 November 2003). "The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: correlation functions, peculiar velocities and the matter density of the Universe".
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 346 (1): 78–96.
arXiv :
astro-ph/0212375 .
Bibcode :
2003MNRAS.346...78H .
doi :
10.1046/J.1365-2966.2003.07063.X .
ISSN
0035-8711 .
Wikidata
Q58413610 .
^
Gerald A. Meehl ; Lisa Goddard; James Murphy; et al. (October 2009). "Decadal Prediction".
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society . 90 (10): 1467–1486.
doi :
10.1175/2009BAMS2778.1 .
ISSN
0003-0007 .
Wikidata
Q58068824 .
^ Camilo Mora; Bénédicte Dousset; Iain R. Caldwell; et al. (19 June 2017). "Global risk of deadly heat".
Nature Climate Change . 7 (7): 501–506.
Bibcode :
2017NatCC...7..501M .
doi :
10.1038/NCLIMATE3322 .
ISSN
1758-678X .
S2CID
90219036 .
Wikidata
Q45373176 .