I chose to make a sculpture of my group’s analysis on the differential effects of selected climate factors on grape harvest date of French wines. In my sculpture, I represent grapes as wine bottles, precipitation as glasses of water, and temperature as candles. I map the data by varying the precipitation with the number of glasses of water uses and varying the temperature with the number of candle wicks used. My sculpture includes a timeline of grape harvest dates (January-June) and (July-December).
I try to show that between 1901 and 1980, both precipitation and temperature had statistically significant effects on changes in grape harvest dates. In particular, higher precipitation corresponded to later grape harvest dates (shift wine bottles to the right) and higher temperatures corresponded to earlier grape harvest dates (shift wine bottles to the left).
I then try to show that between 1980 and 2007, only temperature had a statistically significant effect on changes in grape harvest dates. Increasing the precipitation does not shift the wine bottles, but higher temperatures yield a strong and significant leftward shift of the wine bottles.
Data:
Grape Harvest Dates
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Climate Factors (Temperature, Precipitation, and Palmer Drought Severity Index)
Center for Environmental Data Analysis