Tiny Graphs

In the discussion of climate change, a lot of people show a lot of graphs. I’m probably one of the more prolific blog graphers myself. There’s one fault with graphs which I think sabotages their very purpose: creating a plot in which the y-axis is so small that all the variation is squeezed into a tiny space. This makes variation a lot harder to see, which is rather nonsensical since the real purpose of graphs is usually to make the changes which are present visible.

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Antarctic Sea Ice Increase

There’s no doubt that the amount of sea ice in the Arctic has decreased, by a lot. I would even describe the decrease as “staggering.” Meanwhile, the amount of sea ice in the Antarctic has trended in the opposite direction, i.e. it has grown. Has its increase also been “staggering?” Let’s look at the data.