Atmosphere – exploring climate science
‘Atmosphere’ is an important addition to the Science Museum, not just because climate science is such a hot topic. It demonstrates a science which is still ongoing – instead of engines, computers and space shuttles, products of a science which has been ‘cracked’, visitors get a sense of a field which doesn’t yet have all the answers.
Of course, these benefits are also problems. So much of what climate scientists do is invisible, represented in data sets and models. Without the gadgets and gismos, how do you communicate the subject in a meaningful way? On the whole, ‘Atmosphere’ has risen to the challenge, packing a surprising amount into what at first looks like a fairly small gallery.
The first thing you can’t help but notice is that it’s blue. Very, very blue. In keeping with the rest of the Wellcome Wing, this gives it a soothing, if slightly surreal ambience. What’s particularly impressive is how much information is included, though not overtly. It’s available on touch screens, to dig into as much as you want, but never intimidating.
Despite all the detail, the gallery is very accessible to children, with some brilliantly conceived games demonstrating key concepts, from green house gases to the choices involved in putting up flood defences.
I was pleased to see history included – several visitors were surprised climate was being studied long before it became so publically controversial. And the exhibits never forget to include people in the story – not just scientists, but those affected by changing climates.
The gallery opened a few months ago, and has already fallen victim to that frustrating inevitability of interactive galleries – the mysterious red button that doesn’t do anything. It probably did do something once. But now it sits there, inviting visitors to push it and wonder what that was. Other than that, the technology was impressive – particularly a ‘flip book’ which virtually displayed the reasons why various oft-quoted culprits are not causing warming – volcanoes, the sun, changes in the Earth’s orbit, etc.
I did find some of the interactivity stole the limelight from the ‘real’ exhibits – an ice core was relegated to the corner, while a core sample was credited with ‘telling us’ about the history of the Earth’s climate, without much explanation of how. But this is more than made up for by the wealth of information on display in such a variety of formats, bringing climate science to life in an impressive and, at times, beautiful way.
Sarah Day