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NOAA & NIDIS CLIMATE REPORTS

From 2014 to 2024, I contracted with NOAA’s Climate Program Office, translating complex climate and environmental data into accessible charts, maps, illustrations, and visual stories for public audiences, stakeholders, and policymakers.

I also led end-to-end design of over 30 NOAA and NIDIS reports, including information architecture, custom graphics, photo editing, layout design, copy editing, and creation of Section 508-compliant interactive PDFs. Throughout each project, I collaborated with writers, editors, scientists, GIS specialists, data analysts, and government stakeholders to communicate complex climate science clearly and accurately.

My latest project was NOAA CPO’s 2024–2028 Strategic Plan.

Below are a few of the earlier reports I designed for NOAA and NIDIS. Note these publications were freely available on Climate.gov and Drought.gov but many were removed during the second Trump administration.

Here are sample pages from other reports commissioned by NOAA / NIDIS. Covers, page designs, photo selections, and graphics are by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science.

Samples from a National Marine Sanctuary climate report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a National Marine Sanctuary climate report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a Southwest drought report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a Southwest drought report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a Pacific Northwest Strategic Action Plan (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a Pacific Northwest Strategic Action Plan (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a Pacific Northwest water year report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a Pacific Northwest water year report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from the 2019 NIDIS Annual Report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science.)
Samples from the 2019 NIDIS Annual Report (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science.)
Samples from a report about flash drought (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from a report about flash drought (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science).
Samples from the 2015 and 2016 NOAA Climate Program Office Annual Reports (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science.)
Samples from the 2015 and 2016 NOAA Climate Program Office Annual Reports (Design, photo selection, and graphics by Fiona Martin / Visualizing Science.)

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Illustration: Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into sugars, using the food to grow. This process, called photosynthesis, allows plants to make their own food, storing the carbon in their tissues as they grow roots, branches and leaves. In this way, forests help fight climate change by absorbing and storing carbon pollution that is heating the planet. Big trees store the most carbon because of their mass, and long-lived species such as Douglas fir and red cedar can lock carbon away for centuries. Trees absorb carbon dioxide gas through openings in leaves or needles called stomata. Chloroplasts within leaves and needles use the energy of the sun to split water molecules drawn up through tree roots into hydrogen and oxygen, released through their stomata. Trees and other green plants create the air we breathe, and shelter and nourish life as we know it.
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