EOS1.2

Glacier Gifts is a project designed to bring together scientific researchers in the UK and Peru with author and creative, Diane Samuels, to activate public exploration of current environmental research on the impacts of climate change and glacier retreat in Peru. Through a series of virtual creative writing workshops facilitated by Diane, we have collated and edited a collection of pieces, written by our team of researchers and by Diane, for public dissemination, with an aim of stimulating engagement of diverse audiences beyond the scientific community. During the workshops we practised free-writing and word-collage, inspired by key words, phrases, stories, and images of the environment and culture of the Peruvian Andes, producing raw material which was subsequently crafted to combine individual and collective voices in our book. The collection is also illustrated with personal photographs by team members, and original artwork by Caroline Clason. Glacier Gifts draws upon both lived experience in Peru and scientific engagement with the challenges of glacier change and water security in the Andes, linking to the SIGMA: Peru and Nuestro Rio research projects. Glacier Gifts emotionally, imaginatively, and factually, shares the personal, collective, local, and global impacts of environmental change in this climate-sensitive region of the mountain cryosphere, providing an opportunity for scientific narrative to reach a wider, non-academic audience enveloped within a creative experience.

How to cite: Clason, C., Rangecroft, S., Grados Bueno, C., Dextre, R. M., Hoyos, E., Hurtado Quispe, K., and Samuels, D.: Glacier Gifts: adventures in creative writing in the Peruvian Andes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1267, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1267, 2022.

Everyone, be it scientists, students, teachers, media outlets, or the public, regularly turn to a “google” image search when exploring a scientific concept. Yet, the recovered images are often suboptimal in terms of [1] scientific quality and accuracy, and/or [2] the aesthetics and artistic value. One such common example from the solid Earth sciences, is the (false) impression that the Earth’s mantle is molten, red, and that mantle plume upwellings exclusively coincide with mid-oceanic ridges. Another common issue might be that the labels or content are not sufficient for the users purpose (e.g. axes not indicated, features not labelled). Furthermore, scientists often spend a lot of time and energy in making images (whether for manuscripts, presentations or outreach) and are willing to share their image for anyone to re-use or modify. However, a central, convenient means to share them is lacking and, crucially, them to be readily found by others. To help address this, we have created the online s-Ink collection (s-Ink.org; Crameri et al., in submission). It is a free, community-driven exchange platform for high quality, science-related graphical products. We document several key graphical quality measures to ensure that submissions maximise accessibility (e.g. via scales or colour choices), broaden applicability (e.g. through modifiable vector-based options), and facilitate creativity (e.g. via graphic design principles). Products can include conceptual illustrations, templates, data visualizations, animations, icons, and more. Contributions will be shared with the entire community under a clearly stated license, so that individual efforts will be acknowledged. The content can be downloadable either directly from the s-Ink website or via a link to an external site or repository (for example, in the case of large or pre-existing content). With this abstract we will showcase the website, discuss data and science visualization, encourage feedback and invite contributions all EGU22 attendees.

How to cite: Shephard, G. E., Crameri, F., and Straume, E. O.: Introducing s-Ink.org – a community portal for sharing quality science graphics, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3292, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3292, 2022.

In November 2014 the Rosetta mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) sent a spacecraft to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The data published from the mission inspired me as an artist to create a set of artwork about 67P, including paintings, sculptures and musical collaborations. During this seven-year-long project, I collaborated with scientists from ESA and NASA. Acting as an interpreter from science to non-scientists I implement scientific data into my artwork. Allowing my work to be interactive via Augmented Reality (AR) I invite my viewers to study about the Rosetta mission via art. 

For the return of the comet in 2021 I have created two new paintings. This time I am starting a conversation about the origins of life on Earth, suggesting that comets perhaps played a big role. Colonies of bacteria grown in my art lab have become a part of my paintings.

During the EGU conference in 2022, I would like to display a series of large watermedia paintings. All of the paintings were created with special water that I generated to be close in composition to the water on the comet. 

Work sizes: 70”x52”; 90”x258” (largest piece, if the space allows).

A few of the works could be experienced with AR, instruction to which will be provided to viewers. AR is inspired by the spectroscopic data of an instrument onboard the spacecraft Rosetta. An image with a sound will be visible for viewers via their smart devices. 

If space allows, a music video could be displayed during the exhibition. This video was a collaboration project between myself, a clarinetist from Wales, a composer from Japan and a film editor from New York. This piece is inspired by the sonification of the magnetometry readings of the comet. 

A poster and a public talk can also be provided.

How to cite: Smirnova, E.: Exploring Comet 67P through art and science, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-717, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-717, 2022.

Snow crystals are among the most delicate and aesthetically beautiful things in nature. Looking at their geometrically unique features has inspired photographers and scientists for more than two centuries. However, being made of frozen water, their beauty is usually ephemeral and can usually only be captured in pictures. In this project, we present a system and a procedure to permanently preserve the highly detailed imprints of snow and ice crystals using special kinds of glue and a custom built cooling device. The resolution of the imprints is even high enough to reveal the inner structure of the sometimes only millimeter sized features.  We collected more than 100 snow crystals from Antarctica and the Arctic so far. It should be emphasized that this includes samples from both polar winters, captured during a scientific overwintering stay on Neumayer Station III (Antarctica) and on the MOSAiC cruise (Arctic). This makes the collection truly unique. Additionally we also found a way to preserve imprints of larger glacier ice and ice core samples. This enables to highlight the ancient air bubbles and fine glacier ice microstructure (e.g. sub-millimeter crystal grain boundaries) without the need to keep them frozen. The current focus of this ice core sample preparation is an ice core from Skytrain Ice Rise in West Antarctica, reaching back to ice ages of about 150 000 years before present. The samples we prepare from this core have mainly been used in laser-ablation ion coupled plasma spectrometry for chemical impurity analysis.  We incorporate both the snow crystals and the ice core samples into art objects. The objects not only highlight the delicate beauty of the ice, but also refer to the fragility and delicate balance of the environments they originate from. This is supported by the integration of other materials that have been in use in the polar regions, for example discarded parts of scientific and technical equipment. We consider the artistic presentation as a pathway not only to communicate the fascination of our scientific work and results, but also to bring people closer to the sometimes uncomfortable truths of climate change. We therefore aim to use the artistic presentation of the snow and ice samples to communicate the dramatic impacts of climate change, especially in the polar regions, to a non-scientific audience. 

How to cite: Hoffmann, H. and Hoffmann, T.: The Cryosity project – Artistical preservation of snow crystals and glacier ice samples from Antarctica and the Arctic, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6156, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6156, 2022.

Visualizing hydroclimatic data through maps, curves, diagrams or any other graphical means is an integral part of most scientific analyses. While less frequently attempted, it is also possible to listen to the data through the process of sonification; and rather than just making sounds, why not trying to make music out of them?

Overall, the process of transforming a dataset into music involves two main steps. The first one is to define a mapping between data values and sound properties (typically, the volume or the pitch of notes). This is very similar to the approach used to visualize data (think about using the size or the color of a symbol to represent data). The second step is to arrange the raw result of this first sonification step in order to make it 'sound good' and -hopefully- transform it from sound to music. 

This poster will present a few musical pieces created from hydroclimatic data we use as part of our scientific activity, such as:

• the most basic time series used in catchment hydrology (https://vimeo.com/481648928)
• the impact of El Nino on precipitation (https://vimeo.com/440621263)
• an exploration of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica (https://vimeo.com/653705727)
• an ubiquitous statistical tool (https://vimeo.com/532773848)
• and more (https://globxblog.inrae.fr/)

Data sonification can be looked at from many interesting angles. From a scientific perspective, it is another way to extract information from data. From a musical perspective, it is a device to create the backbone of musical pieces. From an education and communication perspective, it is an engaging starting point to present scientific concepts or results. In addition, the process of sonifying data is a great way to learn new skills in many topics, including signal processing, musical theory or computer science, just to name a few.

How to cite: Renard, B. and Le Bescond, C.: The Music of Water, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9759, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9759, 2022.

Often scientists think of creating visuals like graphs, tables, and charts to better convey their research or make it more appealing to a broader public. However, some data or scientific concepts are complex and difficult to grasp. Instead, art is a universal language. This has led to a tremendous growth in data visualisation using art in the last decade.

At the University of Reading, a team of scientists are collaborating with environmental scientist and visual artist, Nerea Ferrando, to enliven the important story of deadwood for forest functioning. Deadwood refers to trees, or parts of a tree, that are dying or have died. Research in this field is increasingly showing that deadwood stabilises forests, sustains productivity, stores carbon, and provides food and a home for thousands of species, including invertebrates, fungi, as well as birds and mammals. Yet, despite its enormous ecological significance, deadwood remains one of the most threatened habitats in managed forests. Its amount, quality, and diversity is usually heavily reduced by forestry as a common strategy to control pests or make sites accessible.

The artist is creating a series of works to bring to light this less visible part of the forest and help communicate specific aspects of the research findings, such as its unrecognized role in the carbon cycle, the impact of deadwood on biodiversity, or exposing contradictory views on best management practices.

Ultimately, the science-artwork seeks to promote consciousness and awareness of the value of deadwood and the benefits it provides. Raising awareness is essential because, to date, deadwood continues to receive little attention and the adoption of management strategies that create or maintain a variety of deadwood are needed to protect forest health.

How to cite: Ferrando Jorge, N., Shannon, V., Clark, J., Shaw, L., Vanguelova, E., and Morison, J.: Using art to enliven research on deadwood, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10135, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10135, 2022.

We present an ongoing series of pop-up exhibitions in residential care homes around Windsor, United Kingdom (UK).  Each display was created to give communities access to science and an understanding of research taking place in their local area. The artworks were created by artist Hugo Dalton from a residency with Prof. Sarah L Dance at the University of Reading, UK. They depict areas of her team’s research into mapping urban flooding by the River Thames. To contextualise the research and to spark interest with elderly viewers, historical watercolours of the area were also exhibited in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor. The watercolour genre has origins which coincide with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: Watercolour and the picturesque movement can be seen as an early form of climate awareness.  

The scientific research that the collaboration builds on includes a method for detecting flooding in urban areas by merging near real-time satellite observations of flooding from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with model-derived flood hazard maps. Watercolour, as a painting medium, mirrors that the way that the data are used: Artists, like scientists, layer together different types of raw information to produce a coherent distillation for the viewer. Dalton painted in the exact locations where the scientific case studies were conducted, and developed these sketches in the studio into a series of artworks paired with scientific information.

For the art installation a frameless mobile fixing system was developed, working closely with the care home staff. This allowed artworks to be easily removed from the wall and inspected up close for residents with limited sight, or moved into the rooms of bed-bound residents. The reverse side of each had a short explanatory text.  Members of care home staff visited the artist’s studio to gain a deeper insight into the art and science. They could then recount this knowledge to their communities, becoming citizen advocates. Staff also used the artworks as starting points for activities.

This science-art collaboration empowers communities to understand and feel proud of science in their local area. The project’s wide reach extended beyond the residents to those who visited the homes, including relatives and their children.  Each paired set of artworks formed a talking point and enlivened the visual surroundings. Being geographically linked to their location the artworks provided a way for residents to share their lived experience of climate change. The future aim is to partner with other venues, including public houses and village halls to widen audience engagement.

How to cite: Dance, S. L., Dalton, H., Carolin, C., Clark, J., Ferrando Jorge, N., Hooker, H., and Mason, D.: Assimilated Watercolours: Pop up art exhibitions in Care Homes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11694, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11694, 2022.

The challenges of plastic waste-related river pollution in the Brantas River basin in East Java, Indonesia, are the focus of concern for a core group of water managers, scientists, engineers, and environmental activists. But some of the most operable solutions to plastic waste pollution fall largely on the shoulders of citizens, who take on the bulk of solid waste management through community models, influence over allocation of government funding at the village level for waste management, and daily improvisation related to waste disposal from the household. Nevertheless, generally low community interest in solid waste management and river health is a commonly-cited barrier to the scaling up of available community-based waste management models – an issue repeatedly mentioned by social scientists, river activists, and government agents alike. Disinterest is attributed to a low level of knowledge about river health, inability to visualize sources and resultant problems due to river flows, and the absence of effective science communication targeting the communities who are both most affected by and most influencing of plastic waste streams.

The Brantas XOXO project initiated by Ecoton, a river action NGO, couples photography, sculpture, and performative community art with practical waste management solutions in a traveling exhibit. Brantas XOXO aims to inspire interest and action in plastic waste amongst riverine communities and empower citizens to participate in policy deliberation and solution-finding. Within the traveling exhibit, three art installations are coupled with exhibits highlighting community-based solutions for waste reduction, waste management, and river education to create an engaging context for science communication. An immersive plastic bottle tunnel sculpture, constructed from plastic waste taken from the Brantas, demonstrates the average amount of bottle waste produced by one resident of the Brantas basin in a year – much of which ends up in water resources - in order to visually communicate the scale of plastic waste. A photography exhibition includes images of life on the river, river pollution, and impacts of plastic pollution on riverine life. Last, a community problem tree sculpture invites participants to share their concerns and hopes for river health in a collaborative sculpture. These community inputs are to be collated and included in deliberations over a joint problem analysis with government agencies and industry. The three art exhibits are also complemented by additional Brantas XOXO stations focused on river water quality testing and monitoring, community models for waste management, and bulk or non-plastic alternative goods for household consumption (e.g., refillable cooking oil, cloth diapers). 

How to cite: Houser, S., Budiarti, E. C., Azis, A., Afrianto, T., and Rini, D.: Brantas XOXO: Community river art for river community action, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12755, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12755, 2022.