Atmospheric Rivers
NASA JPL
*Innovation Award Winner at the 2022 World Illustration Awards!*
An original artwork commissioned by NASA for their Earth Science wing at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
Working with an array of top scientists from the Earth Science team, this piece portrays the water vapour levels in the west coast’s Atmospheric River – Concentrated streams of water vapour in the atmosphere that have been likened to rivers in the sky. They account for 90% of the global water vapour transport and on average 30% to 50% of the west coast’s annual precipitation comes from a few atmospheric rivers each year.
Featuring 15 layers of hand-cut coloured paper, that have each been carefully pieced together using pieces of board to add depth and shadow, the artwork depicts the increased water vapour levels towards the centre of the Atmospheric Rivers, as well as the West Coast’s topography, with small symbols relating to the increased areas of snow fall and flooding caused by this phenomenon.
A big thank you to David Levine at NASA JPL for approaching me about this amazing project and the Earth Science team for all their input and guidance, as well as Molly Bryan for all her assisting help, my wonderful US agents Levine/Leavitt.
