Rainbow color map distorts and misleads research in hydrology – guidance for better visualizations and science communication

Stoelzle, Michael; Stein, Lina

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4549-2021

Articles | Volume 25, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4549-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4549-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 8

Education and communication

| Highlight paper

|

24 Aug 2021

Education and communication | Highlight paper |

| 24 Aug 2021

Rainbow color map distorts and misleads research in hydrology – guidance for better visualizations and science communication

Michael Stoelzle and Lina Stein

Data sets

Rainbow color map distorts and misleads research in hydrology - guidance for better visualizations and science communication (v1.0) M. Stoelzle https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5145746

Rainbow color map distorts and misleads research in hydrology - guidance for better visualizations and science communication M. Stoelzle https://www.kaggle.com/modche/rainbow-papersurvey-hydrology

Short summary

We found with a scientific paper survey (~ 1000 papers) that 45 % of the papers used rainbow color maps or red–green visualizations. Those rainbow visualizations, although attracting the media's attention, will not be accessible for up to 10 % of people due to color vision deficiency. The rainbow color map distorts and misleads scientific communication. The study gives guidance on how to avoid, improve and trust color and how the flaws of the rainbow color map should be communicated in science.