Kyle Kim

JournalistData visualistMapmakerCoder

Selected map work

Maps from climate and environmental reporting

Four recent projects from Bloomberg News, each built from my own analysis of satellite, climate and geospatial data, from layered static maps to my first interactive 3D terrain scene, plus a personal remote sensing study.

01 · Bloomberg News · 2025

The Swiss Alps Reckon With the Threat of Collapsing Glaciers

An interactive 3D recreation of the 2025 Blatten glacier collapse, built from multiple raster and vector data sources. I storyboarded the sequence and modeled the terrain in Blender.

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3D scroll recordingimg/maps/web/blatten-recording.mp4
The 3D scroll: the Birch glacier above Blatten gives way, rendered live in the browser with Threlte.

From terrain to scene, in Blender

Elevation meshblatten-blender-1.jpg
1 Elevation model of the valley.
Imagery importblatten-blender-2.jpg
2 Draping satellite imagery over DEM mesh.
Textured terrainblatten-blender-3.jpg
3 Rendered terrain with the Birch glacier highlighted.
Static map scrollimg/maps/web/blatten-valley.mp4
A companion static map of at-risk glaciers and glacier incidents across the Swiss Alps.
Role
Reporting, analysis, design, 3D modeling, storyboarding, coding
Data
  • Satellite imagery
  • Glacier-extent climate models
  • Swiss elevation and topographic data
Tools
QGIS, GDAL, Blender, Figma, Illustrator, Svelte/Threlte, LLM tools

02 · Bloomberg News · Sept. 8, 2026

The US Is Losing Its Ability to Store Water When It Needs It Most

Map of federal dams and various shrinking reservoir storage across the US.

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US reservoir sedimentation mapdam-sediment.mp4
Reservoirs from the National Inventory of Dams, sized by capacity, with the few that have sedimentation surveys highlighted.
Strontia Springs Reservoir wildfire mapdam-sedimentation-wildfires.jpg
Burn scars from five wildfires since 1996 upstream of Colorado’s Strontia Springs Reservoir, and the drainage that carried debris into it.
Role
Reporting, analysis, storyboarding, coding
Data
  • National Inventory of Dams
  • Federal dam sedimentation data
  • Colorado wildfire perimeters
  • HydroSHEDS flow direction
Tools
QGIS, Canvas, JavaScript, LLM tools

03 · Bloomberg News · Sept. 23, 2024

Climate Change Is So Bad, Even the Arctic Is On Fire

Maps of wildfire activity across the Arctic and the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland.

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Pantanal fire seasonarctic-wildfire-pantanal.mp4
The 2024 fire season in the Pantanal, building up from satellite fire detections alongside a 7-day average.
Arctic wildfire maparctic-wildfire.jpg
2024 wildfires across Arctic and subarctic tundra and boreal forest.
Projected permafrost extent maparctic-wildfire-map2.jpg
Projected permafrost extent under a high-emissions scenario through 2080; darker areas hold more organic carbon in the soil.
Role
Analysis, design, storyboarding, coding
Data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)
  • Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, Global Fire Assimilation System
Tools
QGIS, Python, Illustrator, Canvas

04 · Bloomberg News · Jan. 10, 2024

World Nears Dangerous Climate Tipping Point With Snow in Short Supply

Maps of snow drought from NASA MODIS snow cover and modeled snow water equivalent, layered with California fire perimeters and tree-cover loss.

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Snow cover animationsnowdrought.mp4
Monthly snow coverage across the Northern Hemisphere through the 2022–23 winter.
Upper Feather River mapsnowdrought-static-map.jpg
Wildfires since 2000 and tree loss in the Upper Feather River Watershed, which feeds Lake Oroville.
Role
Reporting, analysis, design, co-storyboarding, coding
Data
  • Snow drought analysis from a peer-reviewed study
  • NASA Terra/MODIS snow cover
  • NASA Goddard snow water equivalent land surface model
  • Cal Fire perimeters and tree-cover loss
Tools
QGIS, R, Figma, Illustrator, JavaScript

05 · Personal study · Remote sensing

Mapping the Hurricane Maria blackout in San Juan

A self-directed exercise to build my remote sensing skills: mapping the loss of nighttime light around San Juan, Puerto Rico, between August 2017 and Oct. 4, 2017, after Hurricane Maria. Rather than placing before and after images side by side, I tried to show the difference itself, using an upsampled NDUI approach instead of the native VIIRS Day/Night Band radiance alone.

San Juan blackout analysissan_juan_blackout_analysis.jpg
Light lost versus retained around San Juan after Hurricane Maria.
Type
Personal study, not published
Data
  • VIIRS Day/Night Band nighttime radiance
  • August 2017 and Oct. 4, 2017
Method
Upsampled NDUI, used to show change directly