Pacific Dataviz Challenge 2026 · Climate change

The baseline
is behind us.

Across 21 Pacific Exclusive Economic Zones, warmer water and higher seas are no longer isolated observations. In the latest official point estimates, every measured EEZ sits above both reference baselines.

21/21

EEZ point estimates warmer in 2025 than the 1971–2000 sea-surface baseline

21/21

EEZ point estimates higher in 2023 than the 1993–2012 sea-level baseline

01 · A shared direction

The exception became the pattern

Annual anomalies swing with natural variability. The longer record is what matters: the regional mean has moved from years mostly below the historic reference to years consistently above it.

Sea-surface temperature anomaly

Unweighted mean across 21 Pacific EEZ series, °C versus 1971–2000

+0.64°Cin 2025
The regional line summarises direction; each EEZ remains visible in the heat map below.
02 · One ocean, many timelines

Warming arrives unevenly.
It does not arrive alone.

Each row is one EEZ. Each cell is one year. Blues sit below the 1971–2000 reference; oranges sit above it. The right edge shows how a once-mixed field has become uniformly warm in the latest observation.

Cooler than baseline
Warmer than baseline
On narrow screens, the chart opens on recent years; swipe horizontally for the full record. Hover or tap a cell for the EEZ, year and value. Rows are ordered by the 2016–2025 mean, not by vulnerability.
03 · The waterline moved too

By 2023, every reported point estimate was above its sea-level baseline

Satellite-altimetry anomalies are measured against a different reference period: 1993–2012. Across the same 21 EEZs, the unweighted mean was 10.5 cm above that baseline in 2023.

Sea-level anomaly

Unweighted mean across 21 Pacific EEZ series, centimetres versus 1993–2012

+10.5 cmin 2023
Source values are stored in metres and converted here to centimetres. The source’s annual values are rounded, so this view emphasises the shared direction rather than fine rankings.
04 · Read one place closely

Choose an EEZ

The regional result is not a substitute for place. Select a series to compare its path with the 21-EEZ mean.

Sea-surface temperature

°C versus 1971–2000

Sea level

Centimetres versus 1993–2012

What the data says—and what it does not

A shared physical signal is not a shared level of risk.

Exposure, infrastructure, livelihoods, ecosystems and adaptation capacity turn these physical changes into very different lived realities. This visualisation shows that the ocean signal is widespread. It does not rank communities or prescribe their response.

Official dataPacific Data Hub Climate Change Indicators
Coverage21 EEZs shared by both indicator series
Regional meanUnweighted mean of available EEZ observations
Latest observations2025 for SST · 2023 for sea level

Sources & method

    Original visualisation created for the Pacific Dataviz Challenge 2026. Data were retrieved through the Pacific Data Hub’s public SDMX API and embedded for reproducibility. Checksums and the processed dataset are published with the visualisation. Headline counts use the latest reported point estimates; source uncertainty values are not plotted.