Advances in Science and Research www.adv-sci-res.net 1992-0628 1992-0636 1 6th EMS Annual Meeting and 6th European Conference on Applied Climatology 2006 2007 10.5194/asr-1-15-2007 http://www.adv-sci-res.net/1/15/2007/ http://www.adv-sci-res.net/1/15/2007/asr-1-15-2007.html http://www.adv-sci-res.net/1/15/2007/asr-1-15-2007.pdf 15 21 2007-11-01 Somewhere over the rainbow – advantages and pitfalls of colourful visualizations in geosciences A. Spekat F. Kreienkamp Climate & Environment Consulting Potsdam GmbH, Potsdam, Germany Computer-generated visualizations of geoscientific data, such as those from climate models are in high demand for a wide variety of usages; these include, among others, scientific publications, reports and graphical aides for the general public's improved understanding of complex developments. The paper will focus on the effects of colours in two-dimensional displays. Practical examples are given from which it becomes clear that considerable confusion or even damage can arise from an uninformed use of colour mapping and if results become, e.g., published in an unchecked manner by the media. Brewer, C.: Color Use Guidelines for Data Representation. Proceedings of the Section on Statistical Graphics, American Statistical Association, Alexandria, VA, 55–60, 1999. Brewer, C.: Design Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users, ESRI Press. ISBN 1589480899, 2005. Brewer, C., Hatchard, G. W., and Harrower, M. A.: ColorBrewer in Print: A Catalog of Color Schemes for Maps, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 30, 5–32, 2003. Dent, B. D.: Cartography: Thematic Map Design, McGraw Hill, New York, 1999. Gardner, S. D.: Evaluation of the ColorBrewer Color Schemes for Accommodation of Map Readers with Impaired Color Vision, Thesis in Geography, Pennsylvania State University, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Graduate School, 2005. Horton, W.: Overcoming chromophobia: A Guide to the confident and appropriate use of color, IEEE T. Prof. Commun., 34, 160–171, 1991. MacEachren, A. M. and Taylor,D. R. F. (Eds.): Visualizations in Modern Cartography, Elsevier Science, Tarrytown, NY, 1994. Slocum, T. A.: Thematic Cartography and Visualization, Prentice-Hill, New Jersey, 1999. Spekat, A., Enke, W., Kreienkamp, F.: Neuentwicklung von regional hoch aufgelösten Wetterlagen für Deutschland und Bereitstellung regionaler Klimaszenarios auf der Basis von globalen Klimasimulationen mit dem Regionalisierungsmodell WETTREG auf der Basis von globalen Klimasimulationen mit ECHAM5/MPI-OM T63L31 2010 bis 2100 für die SRES-Szenarios B1, A1B und A2, Final Report, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau, Germany, www.umweltdaten.de/publikationen/fpdf-l/3133.pdf (in German), 2007. Williams, R.: The Non-designer's Design Book. Design and typographic principles for the visual novice, 2nd updated printing, Addison-Wesley, 2003. Wong, W.: Principles of Colour Design, Wiley Press, 1997. Wyszecki, G. and Stiles, W. S.: Color science: Concepts and methods, quantitative data and formulae, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 1982.