Uncertainty

The Concept

As water scientists, we have written scientific papers about uncertainties in predictions of future water levels, but to develop this piece we traded high-powered computers for paint brushes to explore uncertainty through watercolour. The scene shows multiple futures that our character could encounter; some leading to rainbows and sheep-filled meadows, others to fires, floods, or earthquakes. The tools they carry may help or will be irrelevant. The jigsaw puzzle mirrors how scientists look at the world, often dealing with missing data. We each created a painting and spliced them together - any pleasing parallels or delightful discontinuities are thanks to uncertainty.

The Artists

Louise Arnal is a postdoctoral researcher at the Coldwater Lab in Canmore, Canada, where she forecasts the water flow in Canadian rivers. Louise is also an artist and loves merging science and art to explore and communicate water-related topics to a wide audience. You can connect with her via her website, Twitter, or Instagram (@ArnalLouise).

Oriana Chegwidden is a research scientist at the University of Washington where she investigates water and climate through computers. She continues that exploration through her watercolours, often while perched somewhere in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest. You can follow her on Twitter for words (@scientistoriana) or Instagram for pictures (@chesswidden).

Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license