On May 14, BIDS-Accenture fellow Cody Markelz presented his work “Data Landscapes: Visual Storytelling of California’s Fiery and Frosty Extremes”. His presentation skillfully combined research, data visualization, storytelling, and a sense of adventure, focusing on two main projects:
- The “Pyroscapes” Zine series, where Cody observed and collected fire data from the ground level of the Klamath mountain range and compared it to satellite data and model outputs.
- A tool that aids in avalanche danger forecasting, used by the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center.
“Pyroscapes” began as a National Geographic grant proposal and was ultimately developed and published by Cody personally as a six-issue, adventure Zine series. At the seminar, he distributed copies for the attendees to browse. He also used these materials in his fire ecology class at Merritt College, where students hiked around the Blue Oak Ranch reserve using the Zines as walking lecture notes.
Many Californians remember 2020 as a particularly severe year for wildfires. From his ground-level perspective, Cody gathered data and studied the recovery of insect populations following the fires, as well as the impact on the landscape. He strongly advocates for more controlled burns, emphasizing that all ecosystems have evolved to incorporate fire, and prolonged suppression has contributed to the occurrence of mega wildfires.
To collect this ground-level data, Cody conditioned himself for the advanced and intense trail runs ahead. He engaged in two days of ultra-running through the Klamath Range gathering and collating heart rate data and GPS coordinates with his smartwatch as part of his training regime he could compare various training runs over time and ensure he was in shape for the adventure ahead.
In contrast to wildfires, another significant challenge is avalanches. For his project, the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center provided Cody with digitized records, including some from hand-written reports dating back to the 1980s.
The objective was to use historical data as training data to predict avalanches. Since mitigation efforts are not conducted in the wildland area above the 7500-foot elevation, this historical data, combined with field observations and current weather reports, is crucial for improving avalanche predictions. Additionally, Cody’s visualizations assist the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center in raising funds for their various projects.
Cody will continue to work on projects that integrate data science, visualization, illustration and adventure story telling. You can follow along at his blog, www.codymarkelz.com, on instagram @codymarkelz.art, sign-up for his art newsletter at www.codymarkelz.art to keep in the loop about upcoming Zine issues, or visit his physical gallery/studio space in Dunsmuir, CA www.darmera.studio.
