DAZZLING: Composite Hurricane Map: 1851 to 2010

Spotted at Australia's Courier-Mail, stunning graphics created by information architect John Nelson map every tropical typhoon, cyclone and hurricane since 1851:

The storm map offers an unusual perspective of the Earth from below, centered on Antarctica, with the rest of the planet unfurling around the southern continent like flower petals.

While the Caribbean is the clear global hot spot for tropical storm activity, the major southern hemisphere active zone is across Australia's north, with cyclones forming everywhere between Mozambique and Tahiti...

...Mapmaker John Nelson, mapping manager for data visualization company IDV Solutions, told Our Amazing Planet why the map's oddball point of view was the best way to tell the story of the data.

"When I put it onto a rectangular map it was neat looking, but a little bit disappointing," he said.

The unusual perspective beautiful showcases the curving paths the storms make across the world's oceans...

It reveals that tropical storms abhor the Equator, and can never cross it.

Nelson's map employs US government data on tropical storms and hurricanes from 1851 through 2010.

Interestingly, the "proportionality of storm severity looks to be getting more consistent year to year with the benefit of more data." In other words, warmal colding appears to have no effect on storms, just as it has no impact on temperatures.