A spiral graph arranges data points along a continuously expanding circular path, allowing patterns to be viewed across multiple cycles. When used to examine global temperature and other climate-related measurements, the spiral layout highlights long-term trends while preserving the seasonal or periodic structure of the data. Each loop typically represents one year, and the distance from the center or the color of the line reflects the magnitude of the measurement. This graph makes deviations, anomalies, and accelerating changes visually intuitive and immediately noticeable.
This blog demonstrates how to create 2D and 3D spiral graphs using monthly global mean temperature data from 1850 to 2024. By mapping each year onto a spiral — where the angle represents the month and the radius represents temperature — these visualizations reveal both seasonal patterns and long-term trends. Please find the data and the resulting graph in this zip file.
- From the 3D spiral graph, we see a clear and continuous rise in global temperature over the entire 1850–2024 period, with each loop positioned higher than the previous one.
- In the 2D spiral graph, the outward expansion of the recent loops shows that by 2024, global temperature has increased by roughly 1.5°C compared with the 1850–1900 baseline.
Open the Origin project file in the zip file, and follow the steps below to create these two graphs.
2D Spiral Graph
1. The worksheet contains three columns – year, month and temperature. Follow the steps below to download the Circular Radar Chart template and prepare the data for plotting.
2. Double-click the plot to open the Plot Details dialog, set the line color to be mapped to the temperature values.
3. Apply the following settings to improve the appearance of the graph:
a. Set the angular tick labels to display the Month.
b. Adjust the axis scale range.
c. Add reference lines at radial values 1.5 and 2.
4. Further customizations:
a. Hide axes, grid lines and ticks.
b. Display the reference lines above the plotted lines.
c. Enable dark mode for the graph.
3D Spiral Graph
1. Prepare the data for plotting.
a. Add two columns and set their values with the fomulas (C – 12.5)cos((B-1)/122pi) and (C – 12.5)sin((B-1)/122pi). These are the X, Y coordinates for the 3D Spiral plot.
b. Add another column add copy the Year values into it. This is the Z coordinate.
c. Create a 3D line plot with the data.
2. Customize the plot with the following settings:
a. Set the line color to be colormapped to the temperature values.
b. Adjust the 3D graph’s dimensions and projection.
3. Customize the planes
a. Hide unnessary planes, grid lines, and related elements.
b. Add the color scale.
c. Enable dark mode.
Please check the resulting graph in the project file to view any additional formatting, styling, or layout adjustments that were made but not explicitly detailed in the instructions.
English 
Japanese