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Data Vis Dispatch
January 18th, 2022

Data Vis Dispatch,
January 18

The best of last week’s big and small data visualizations

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Rose Mintzer-Sweeney

Welcome back to the 29th edition of Data Vis Dispatch! Every week, we’ll be publishing a collection of the best small and large data visualizations we find, especially from news organizations — to celebrate data journalism, data visualization, simple charts, elaborate maps, and their creators.

Recurring topics this week include volcanoes, famine, and poorly-timed parties.

Starting with a bang — Tonga is in a state of disaster after a volcanic explosion powerful enough to send shock waves around the world:

The Wall Street Journal: Tonga Volcanic Eruption, Tsunami Cause Significant Damage, January 16
TransTerraScape: “1月15日の16時10分～20時50分までのひまわり8号のバンド8(6.2μm)上層水蒸気の画像から前後フレームの差分(10分間)を取ってみると、日本時間20時40分頃のトンガ諸島の火山噴火によるソニックブーム(?)の到着が可視化できました。 興味深いのは同心円の模様が何重にも確認できることです,” January 16 (Tweet)

Several other maps also focused on the environments around us, both natural and built:

Bloomberg: Galapagos Islands Expands Marine Life Protections to Curb Overfishing, January 14
The Wall Street Journal: “Frackers in Texas will have to find a new home for wastewater as the state acts to stem a spate of earthquakes,” January 17 (Tweet, Article)
Grist: Toxic Churn – How the legacy of former industrial sites pollutes American cities today, January 13
El Diario: ¿Cuánto ha crecido tu ciudad desde que naciste? El mapa de la edad de cada edificio en España, January 16

COVID has overrun our political section in the past — but this time, it’s less policy, more parties:

The Guardian: How No 10’s alleged parties took place as UK Covid death toll rose – interactive, January 14
Alex Selby-Boothroyd: “Lockdown days in 2020 without allegations of parties: 197* *Correct at 23:50,” January 13 (Tweet)

In COVID news proper, Omicron is breaking case records around the world — but hospitalizations and deaths don’t always follow. Relative measures make it easier to compare this wave to previous ones:

Zeit Online: Wie die Omikron-Welle in Deutschland ankommt, January 14
La Nación: ¿Un espejo de lo que pasará en la Argentina?, January 14
Financial Times: Surge of US Covid hospitalisations masks ‘incidental’ infections, January 15

Of course, the basic incidence rates are still of interest too:

Helsingin Sanomat: Viime viikolla tehohoidossa oli eniten koronapotilaita sitten huhtikuun 2020 – osa on kuitenkin hoidossa muista syistä kuin koronan takia, January 11
Financial Times: Omicron drives record cases of child Covid hospitalisation, January 17
CNN: Watch Covid-19 cases sweep across the United States, January 14

Vaccines have saved lives this year, but excess deaths were high despite them:

El País: El éxito de las vacunas contra ómicron: los vacunados tienen cinco veces menos probabilidad de ingresar en un hospital, January 15
Financial Times: Covid passes boosted economies and vaccine uptake, study shows, January 18
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Mehr als eine Million Todesfälle im Jahr 2021, January 11
Zeit Online: Deutlich mehr Todesfälle durch Corona, January 13

Two maps this week put a spotlight on food and famine:

Bloomberg: Middle East, North Africa Risk Unrest on High Food Prices, January 11
Le Monde: L’alimentation sous tension, January 13

Meanwhile, another year of record-setting heat pushed climate failure to the top of economists’ risk list:

Bloomberg: These Are the Biggest Risks the World Faces in Next 10 Years, Jan 11
The Washington Post: The past seven years have been the hottest in recorded history, new data shows, January 13
Bloomberg: The World’s Troubling New Tempo of Temperature Records, January 14

A historic heat wave caused power failures in Argentina, while Europeans are navigating a politically delicate energy crunch:

La Nación: Mapa de cortes de luz en la Ciudad: qué barrios todavía no tienen suministro, January 12
Bloomberg: Earlier Than Ever, European Gas Storage Is Half-Empty January 13
Financial Times: How serious is Vladimir Putin about launching a major Ukraine offensive?, January 15

Finally, other economics charts took a geographic angle:

The Economist: Why North Dakota, not New York, may be the land of opportunity, January 15
The Wall Street Journal: How Covid-19 Has Widened the Gap Between Rich and Poor Countries, January 14
The Economist: Why Britain needs more migrants, January 14

What else we found interesting

The Visual Agency: “In 2022, the Italian parliament is going to elect its 13th President of the Republic. Find out what are the possible scenarios,” January 13 (Tweet, Site)
The Washington Post: How Ja Morant’s block conjured memories of LeBron, Jordan and Russell, January 13
Straits Times: Saving Singapore’s Shores, January 13

Help us make this dispatch better! We’d love to hear which newsletters, blogs, or social media accounts we need to follow to learn about interesting projects, especially from less-covered parts of the world (Asia, South America, Africa). Write us at hello@datawrapper.de or leave a comment below.

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Rose Mintzer-Sweeney
(she/her, @rosemintzers) is a data vis writer on Datawrapper's communications team. She likes words, numbers, pictures, and all possible combinations of the same. Rose lives in Berlin.

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