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Glaciers melt as mountains warm: a graphical case study

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Abstract

For the 2006 ASA Data Exposition we created graphics that, in the legacy of John Tukey, tried to “force the unexpected upon us” (Tukey in Proceedings of the 18th conference on design of experiments in Army research and development I, Washington, 1972). The data were geographic and meteorological measurements taken every month for 6 years on a coarse 24 by 24 grid covering Central America. Using conventional static graphics and some less conventional interactive graphics, we were able to find expected features in the data, such as seasonal patterns, spatial correlations, and El Niño events, as well as some more surprising results, several of which were corroborated by stories in the news.

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Correspondence to H. Wickham.

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Hobbs, J., Wickham, H., Hofmann, H. et al. Glaciers melt as mountains warm: a graphical case study. Comput Stat 25, 569–586 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00180-010-0202-8

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