POLAR SEEDS

Science and Data This section contains the descripiton of the scientific activities and related links for generating the data used for the visals and sounds sections.

The POLAR SEEDS project has been funded by the City College of New York for communecating climate change at the poles through visualization and sonification. Particular emphasis is given to melting in Greenland.

Visuals and Games Images have the power to engage us and amplify our understanding of data. They energize other areas of the brain and allow for greater comprehension of complex material. The meaning of text can be amplified by the use of typographic hierarchy and expressive typography. We created several infographics to communicate basic scientific knowledge of climate change at the poles. Photography from field campaigns are also exhibited.

Games engage people who are not (initially) interested in the subject of climate change, encourage active participation and require players to intuit an understanding of the modeled dynamics. We created a that can be played on personal devices and in public spaces & whose mechanics serve as an allegory of the difficulties of addressing climate change.

Sounds Sonification is defined as “the use of non-speech audio to convey information. More specifically, sonification is the transformation of data relations into perceived relations in an acoustic signal for the purposes of facilitating communication or interpretation.” A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The idea of soundscape refers to both the natural acoustic environment, consisting of natural sounds, including animal vocalizations and, for instance, the sounds of weather and other natural elements.

We report soundscapes and sonifications of scientific data concerning melting in Greenland in the years ranging from 1957 through 2011 and sounds collected during field campaigns.