Ed Hawkins (climatologist)

Edward Hawkins MBE [4] (born 1977)[3] is a Professor of climate

Ed Hawkins
science at the University of Reading,[1] principal research scientist
MBE
at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), editor of
Climate Lab Book blog[5] and lead scientist for the Weather
Rescue citizen science project.[6][7] He is known for his data
visualizations of climate change for the general public such as
warming stripes[8] and climate spirals.[9][10][11]

Education
Hawkins was educated at the University of Nottingham where he
was awarded a PhD in astrophysics in 2003 for research
supervised by Steve Maddox that investigated galaxy clustering in
large redshift surveys.[2]

Career and research Ed Hawkins speaking at the 2015

United Nations Climate Change
After his PhD, Hawkins served as a Natural Environment
Research Council (NERC) advanced research fellow in the Conference in Paris
department of meteorology at the University of Reading from 2005 Born Edward Hawkins
to 2013.[12] February 1977
(age 46)[3]
As of 2023 Hawkins is a professor of climate science at the
Nationality British
University of Reading,[15] where he serves as academic lead for
public engagement and is affiliated with the National Centre for Alma mater University of
Atmospheric Science (NCAS).[16] He is a lead for Weather Nottingham (PhD)
Rescue and Rainfall Rescue, citizen science projects in which Known for Warming stripes
volunteers transcribe data from historical meteorological and
Climate spirals
rainfall records for digital analysis.[17][18]
Awards Kavli Medal (2018)
Hawkins was a contributing author for the IPCC Fifth Assessment MBE (2019)
Report (2014)[19] and was a lead author for the IPCC Sixth Scientific career
Assessment Report in 2021.[20]
Fields Climate variability
On 9 May 2016, Hawkins published his climate spiral data Climate predictability
visualization graphic,[21] which was widely reported as having Climate change
gone viral.[11][22][23] The climate spiral was widely praised, Jason Arctic
Samenow writing in The Washington Post that the spiral graph Astrophysics
was "the most compelling global warming visualization ever Data and information
made".[24] visualization[1]

On 22 May 2018, Hawkins published his warming stripes data Institutions University of Reading
visualization graphic,[25] which has been used by meteorologists in National Centre for
Climate Central's annual #MetsUnite campaign to raise public Atmospheric Science
awareness of global warming during broadcasts on the summer Thesis Galaxy clustering in
solstice.[26] Hawkins' similar #ShowYourStripes initiative, in large redshift surveys
which the public could freely download and share graphics (https://ethos.bl.uk/O
customized to specific countries or localities, was launched on 17 rderDetails.do?uin=u
June 2019.[26] The warming stripes graphic is used in the logo of k.bl.ethos.27257
the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis from 2019
8) (2003)
onwards.[27]
Doctoral Steve Maddox[2]
advisor
Honours and awards Website www.met.reading.ac
.uk/~ed (https://www.
Hawkins' climate spiral design was on the shortlist for the Kantar
met.reading.ac.uk/~e
Information is Beautiful Awards 2016,[28] the design having been
featured in the opening ceremony of the August 2016 Summer d)
Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro.[29]

One of Hawkins' early warming stripes graphics shows

global warming from 1850 (left side of graphic) to 2018
(right side of graphic).[13] Being a "minimalist graphic
stripped (of) unnecessary clutter",[14] warming stripes Climate spiral shows global
portray observed global warming with blue stripes (cooler warming since 1850 as an
years) progressing to predominantly red stripes (warmer ever-widening coloured spiral
years).

Hawkins was awarded the Royal Meteorological Society’s Climate Science Communication Prize in
2017.[20]

In 2018, Hawkins was awarded the Kavli Medal by the Royal Society "for significant contributions to
understanding and quantifying natural climate variability and long-term climate change, and for actively
communicating climate science and its various implications with broad audiences".[20]

In July 2019, Hawkins was included in the Climate Home News list of ten climate influencers.[30]

Hawkins was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours
"For services to Climate Science and to Science Communication".[4]

In June 2021, Hawkins was named in The Sunday Times "Green Power List" which profiled twenty
environmentalists in the UK who are "minds engaging with the world’s biggest problem".[31]

Selected publications

According to Google Scholar[1][32][33] his most highly cited publications include:

The Potential to Narrow Uncertainty in Regional Climate Predictions[34]

 The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: correlation functions, peculiar velocities and the matter
density of the Universe[35]
Decadal Prediction: Can It Be Skillful?[36]
Global risk of deadly heat[37]

References
1. Ed Hawkins (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WpGU4W4AAAAJ) publications
indexed by Google Scholar
2. Hawkins, Ed (2003). Galaxy clustering in large redshift surveys (http://eprints.nottingham.ac.
uk/10009/). nottingham.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Nottingham. OCLC 1365479150 (htt
ps://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1365479150). EThOS uk.bl.ethos.272578 (http://ethos.bl.uk/Orde
rDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.272578).
3. Anon (2013). "Dr Edward Hawkins" (https://web.archive.org/web/20230130090156/https://fin
d-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/S4j0JgYsJw9sApcPRU9g7UbfHj
8/appointments). gov.uk. London: Companies House. Archived from the original (https://find-
and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/S4j0JgYsJw9sApcPRU9g7UbfHj8/
appointments) on 2023-01-30.
4. "No. 62866" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/62866/supplement/N18). The
London Gazette (Supplement). 2019-12-28. p. N18. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0191228001436/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/62866/data.pdf) from the
original on 28 December 2019.
5. Hawkins, Ed (2022). "Climate Lab Book: Open Climate Science" (http://www.climate-lab-boo
k.ac.uk). climate-lab-book.ac.uk.
6. Andrew M. Lorrey; Petra R. Pearce; Rob Allan; et al. (June 2022). "Meteorological data
rescue: Citizen science lessons learned from Southern Weather Discovery". Patterns. 3 (6):
100495. doi:10.1016/J.PATTER.2022.100495 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FJ.PATTER.2022.1
00495). ISSN 2666-3899 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2666-3899). Wikidata Q114305499.
7. Ed Hawkins; Rowan Sutton (2010-04-11). "The potential to narrow uncertainty in projections
of regional precipitation change". Climate Dynamics. 37 (1–2): 407–418.
doi:10.1007/S00382-010-0810-6 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FS00382-010-0810-6).
ISSN 0930-7575 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0930-7575). Wikidata Q58388456.
8. Anon (2023). " 'Manchester is red', climate data shows before FA Cup tie" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20230128104816/https://www.reading.ac.uk/news/2023/University-News/Manche
ster-climate-stripes). reading.ac.uk. University of Reading. Archived from the original (https://
www.reading.ac.uk/news/2023/University-News/Manchester-climate-stripes) on 2023-01-28.
9. Harvey, Chelsea (2016-07-28). "Scientists have found a perfect illustration of how the
climate is spiraling 'out of control' " (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environm
ent/wp/2016/07/28/these-climate-spirals-perfectly-illustrate-the-human-hand-in-global-climat
e-change/). The Washington Post. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190711181513/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/07/28/these-climate-sp
irals-perfectly-illustrate-the-human-hand-in-global-climate-change/) from the original on
2019-07-11.
10. Kahn, Brian (2018-05-25). "This Climate Visualization Belongs in a Damn Museum" (https://
earther.gizmodo.com/this-climate-visualization-belongs-in-a-damn-museum-1826307536).
Gizmodo. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190619235512/https://earther.gizmodo.co
m/this-climate-visualization-belongs-in-a-damn-museum-1826307536) from the original on
2019-06-19.
11. Staff, Science AF (2018-05-25). "This Has Got to Be One of The Most Beautiful And
Powerful Climate Change Visuals We've Ever Seen" (https://www.sciencealert.com/this-has
-got-to-be-one-of-the-most-beautiful-and-powerful-climate-change-visuals-we-ve-ever-seen).
Science Alert. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190628042115/https://www.sciencea
lert.com/this-has-got-to-be-one-of-the-most-beautiful-and-powerful-climate-change-visuals-w
e-ve-ever-seen) from the original on 2019-06-28.
12. "Ed Hawkins" (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ed_Hawkins2). Archived (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20190827041908/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ed_Hawkins2) from the
original on 2019-08-27.
13. Hawkins, Ed (2018-12-04). "2018 visualisation update / Warming stripes for 1850-2018
using the WMO annual global temperature dataset" (http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2018/
2018-visualisation-update/). Climate Lab Book. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190
417024828/http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2018/2018-visualisation-update/) from the
original on 2019-04-17. (Direct link to image (https://web.archive.org/web/20190403013148/
http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/files/2018/12/wmo_stripes.png)).
14. Kahn, Brian (2019-06-17). "This Striking Climate Change Visualization Is Now
Customizable for Any Place on Earth" (https://earther.gizmodo.com/this-striking-climate-chan
ge-visualization-is-now-custo-1835581866). Gizmodo. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20190626030105/https://earther.gizmodo.com/this-striking-climate-change-visualization-is
-now-custo-1835581866) from the original on 2019-06-26.
15. "Professor Ed Hawkins" (http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~ed/home/index.php). University of
Reading. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190805021251/http://www.met.reading.a
c.uk/~ed/home/index.php) from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
16. "Professor Ed Hawkins, Professor, NCAS Climate" (https://research.reading.ac.uk/meteorolo
gy/people/ed-hawkins/). University of Reading. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190
826183427/https://research.reading.ac.uk/meteorology/people/ed-hawkins/) from the original
on 2019-08-26.
17. Johnson, Scott K. (2019-03-22). "You can help "rescue" weather data from the 1860s" (http
s://arstechnica.com/science/2019/03/you-can-help-rescue-weather-data-from-the-1860s/).
Ars Technica. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190509034645/https://arstechnica.co
m/science/2019/03/you-can-help-rescue-weather-data-from-the-1860s/) from the original on
2019-05-09. (re Weather Rescue)
18. Harvey, Fiona (2020-03-26). "Call for isolated Britons to help digitise historical rainfall data"
(https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/26/call-isolated-britons-help-digitise-histori
cal-rainfall-data). The Guardian. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055055/htt
ps://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/26/call-isolated-britons-help-digitise-historical-
rainfall-data) from the original on 2020-04-17. (Re Rainfall Rescue)
19. "WG1AR5_TS_FINAL / TS Technical Summary / Contributing Authors" (https://www.ipcc.ch/
site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WG1AR5_TS_FINAL.pdf) (PDF). Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190803030620/https://ww
w.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WG1AR5_TS_FINAL.pdf) (PDF) from the original on
2019-08-03. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
20. "Our changing climate: learning from the past to inform future choices / Prize lecture" (https://
royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2019/04/kavli-lecture/). London: Royal Society.
2019-04-30. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190514183640/https://royalsociety.org/
science-events-and-lectures/2019/04/kavli-lecture/) from the original on 2019-05-14.
Hawkins described his spiral graph and warming stripes in his Kavli prize lecture (video
embedded in reference).
21. Hawkins, Ed (2016-05-09). "Spiralling global temperatures" (http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.
uk/2016/spiralling-global-temperatures/). Climate Lab Book. Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20190816215511/http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2016/spiralling-global-temperatu
res/) from the original on 2019-08-16.
22. Mooney, Chris (2019-05-11). "This scientist just changed how we think about climate
change with one GIF" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/
05/11/this-scientist-just-changed-how-we-think-about-climate-change-with-one-gif/). The
Washington Post. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190206213537/https://www.wash
ingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/11/this-scientist-just-changed-how-w
e-think-about-climate-change-with-one-gif/) from the original on 2019-02-06.
23. Meduna, Veronika (2018-09-17). "The climate visualisations that leave no room for doubt or
denial" (https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/17-09-2018/the-climate-visualisations-that-leave-no-
room-for-doubt-or-denial/). The Spinoff. New Zealand. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
20190517104250/https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/17-09-2018/the-climate-visualisations-that
-leave-no-room-for-doubt-or-denial/) from the original on 2019-05-17.
24. Samenow, Jason (2016-05-10). "Unraveling spiral: The most compelling global warming
visualization ever made" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2
016/05/10/the-most-compelling-visual-of-global-warming-ever-made/). The Washington
Post. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190222013000/https://www.washingtonpost.c
om/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/05/10/the-most-compelling-visual-of-global-warmin
g-ever-made/) from the original on 2019-02-22.
25. Hawkins, Ed (2018-05-22). "Warming stripes" (http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2018/warm
ing-stripes/). Climate Lab Book. UK. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2018052606002
6/http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2018/warming-stripes/) from the original on 2018-05-26.
26. Macdonald, Ted (2019-06-25). "TV meteorologists kicked off the summer by talking about
climate change / #MetsUnite and #ShowYourStripes campaign highlighted the importance
of climate communication" (https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/06/25/TV-meteorologist
s-kicked-off-the-summer-by-talking-about-climate-change/224036). Media Matters. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20190626013238/https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/06/2
5/TV-meteorologists-kicked-off-the-summer-by-talking-about-climate-change/224036) from
the original on 2019-06-26.
27. "United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis / About" (https://climatecrisis.h
ouse.gov/about). climatecrisis.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. 2019.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190402194738/https://climatecrisis.house.gov/abou
t) from the original on 2019-04-02. Crediting Shawna Faison and House Creative Services.
28. "Climate spirals" (https://www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/1428-climate-spi
rals). informationisbeautifulawards.com. KANTAR Information is Beautiful. October 2016.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190823220732/https://www.informationisbeautifula
wards.com/showcase/1428-climate-spirals) from the original on 2019-08-23.
29. Irfan, Umair (2019-05-30). "Why this climate change data is on flip-flops, leggings, and cars /
Warming stripes keep showing up on clothes and crafts" (https://www.vox.com/2019/3/4/182
46245/climate-change-warming-stripes). Vox. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201906
24020854/https://www.vox.com/2019/3/4/18246245/climate-change-warming-stripes) from
the original on 2019-06-24.
30. Sauer, Natalie (2019-07-16). "Non-Green MEPs largely ignore climate on Twitter" (https://cli
matechangenews.com/2019/07/16/non-green-meps-largely-ignore-climate-twitter/). Climate
Home News (climatechangenews.com). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2019083104
5507/https://climatechangenews.com/2019/07/16/non-green-meps-largely-ignore-climate-twi
tter/) from the original on 2019-08-31.
31. Spencer, Ben (2021-06-14). "The Carbon Brief: Daily Briefing / Green power list 2021: the
UK's top 20 environmentalists" (https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/g7-reaffirmed-goals-b
ut-failed-to-provide-funds-needed-to-reach-them-experts-say). The Sunday Times. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20210622231752/https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/g7-rea
ffirmed-goals-but-failed-to-provide-funds-needed-to-reach-them-experts-say) from the
original on 2021-06-22.
32. Ed Hawkins (https://europepmc.org/authors/0000-0001-9477-3677) publications from
Europe PubMed Central
33. Ed Hawkins (https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=34770589400) publications
indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
34. Ed Hawkins; Rowan Sutton (August 2009). "The Potential to Narrow Uncertainty in
Regional Climate Predictions". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 90 (8):
1095–1108. doi:10.1175/2009BAMS2607.1 (https://doi.org/10.1175%2F2009BAMS2607.1).
ISSN 0003-0007 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0003-0007). Wikidata Q58388472.
35. E. Hawkins; S. Maddox; S. Cole; et al. (2003-11-21). "The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey:
correlation functions, peculiar velocities and the matter density of the Universe". Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 346 (1): 78–96. arXiv:astro-ph/0212375 (https://ar
xiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0212375). Bibcode:2003MNRAS.346...78H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.e
du/abs/2003MNRAS.346...78H). doi:10.1046/J.1365-2966.2003.07063.X (https://doi.org/10.
1046%2FJ.1365-2966.2003.07063.X). ISSN 0035-8711 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0035
-8711). Wikidata Q58413610.
36. Gerald A. Meehl; Lisa Goddard; James Murphy; et al. (October 2009). "Decadal Prediction".
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 90 (10): 1467–1486.
doi:10.1175/2009BAMS2778.1 (https://doi.org/10.1175%2F2009BAMS2778.1). ISSN 0003-
0007 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0003-0007). Wikidata Q58068824.
37. Camilo Mora; Bénédicte Dousset; Iain R. Caldwell; et al. (2017-06-19). "Global risk of
deadly heat". Nature Climate Change. 7 (7): 501–506. Bibcode:2017NatCC...7..501M (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017NatCC...7..501M). doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE3322 (https://d
oi.org/10.1038%2FNCLIMATE3322). ISSN 1758-678X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1758-
678X). S2CID 90219036 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:90219036).
Wikidata Q45373176.

External links
EdHawkins.org (https://edhawkins.org/)
Ed Hawkins (https://twitter.com/ed_hawkins) on Twitter

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