As EO services, like the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) expand, the bottleneck for climate action is no longer data scarcity, but the ability to “translate” this data into actionable information. While climate visualisations are key interfaces for making this information understandable, their uptake by institutional actors remains uneven.
This talk presents results of an empirical study identifying a persistent user-expert gap between those producing climate visualisations and national institutions responsible for climate governance. Using the Italian initiative for the C3S National Collaboration Programme as setting, we have defined and adopted a sequential mixed-method design that combined qualitative interviews with ECMWF experts, with a comparative survey of institutional users in Italy and ECMWF experts.
Our findings reveal a fundamental mismatch in priorities while experts prioritise scientific transparency, exploration, and uncertainty communication, institutional users often face “information overload”. In fact, users mainly require workflow-ready outputs and struggle to integrate complex interactive tools into formal reporting and legislative procedures.
To help bridge this gap, we introduce the concept of Adaptive Translation that reframes visualisation as a negotiated practice at the science-policy interface. To this end, we propose eight design principles, including progressive disclosure, defensibility-oriented design, and workflow alignment, to ensure that scientific integrity is preserved while meeting the operational needs of policy- and decision-makers.
By shifting from “broadcasting information” to “supporting institutional workflows”, our work provides actionable insights for designers and scientists on developing climate visualisations that empower sustainable governance, moving beyond mere data display.