What temperatures do the stripe colours of the Knit for Climate Action scarf actually represent?
In 2018 climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins developed the idea of representing climate data through coloured stripes as a way of communicating the reality of a warming world in a manner that would be quickly grasped by a general audience, including those who struggle to read more typical data graphs.
We took this idea and, using the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies temperature data developed by meteorologist Dr Mick Pope, created a striped scarf pattern representing the average global temperatures since 1919.
Each band of colour represents a single year and the hue of colour (blue to red) represents global average surface temperatures for that year. If we take the temperatures of 1961 to 1990 to be our baseline, then blue colours are for years where the average temperature at the Earth's surface was colder than that baseline, and red are for years that were warmer. The stronger the blue, the colder the year; the stronger the red, the hotter. 2023's record breaking heat added a colour to our pattern, and took the stripes into a new purple tone.
Below is the climate scarf temperature data Dr Mick Pope used to work out the colour order of our scarf pattern:
Would you like to knit and gift a scarf that helps spark conversation and action for climate change in your community?
Register for access to our Knitter’s Handbook. It doesn't matter if you're an accomplished knitter or a recent beginner, you’ll be supported with resources to complete and gift your scarf.
Register here
