Abstract
Many studies that discuss observed trends in wind speed focus primarily on regions of the Northern Hemisphere, so there is little research directed to the Southern Hemisphere. This paper pre- sents a preliminary investigation of possible statistically significant trends in wind speed over the Southern Hemisphere, with a detailing on the South American continent, between 1961 and 2008. Thus, data from the 20th Century Reanalysis V2 were examined with statistical tests of Mann- Kendall and Sen’s Bend in order to establish the significance and the magnitude of detected trends. The previous results indicate statistically significant trends of increase in average wind speedover the equatorial region of the planet, as well as in the eastern sector of the South Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans. In South America, the most significant trends of decrease in wind speed were noted in some areas of the southern sector of the continent, even as in the adjacent Atlantic Ocean to Argentina. Further studies should be performed to physically support the occurrence of these trends in wind speed. In addition, other observed and reanalysis data sets should be explored to update and corroborate these primary analyzes.
Highlights
Most of the effort in variability and climate change studies focuses on variables related to air temperature and precipitation
It shows the identified trends in the mean wind speed over the Southern Hemisphere between January 1961 and December 2008 (m/s per month); the areas with an upward trend in wind speed are marked with colors ranging from yellow to red, while areas with decreasing trend are represented by colors ranging from light blue to dark blue; regions with no statistically significant trend is symbolized by the white color
In much of the tropical and subtropical oceanic portion of the Southern Hemisphere, including the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, is noted a marked upward trend of average wind speed around +3.0 × 10−3 m/s per month that is likely aggregated to changes in the circulation of eastern outskirts of the subtropical anticyclones located in these regions
Summary
Most of the effort in variability and climate change studies focuses on variables related to air temperature and precipitation. These two climatic elements are very relevant and have been researched through observed and si-. As [1], the practical effects of any climate variations or changes do not involve a single climatic component, but rather the result of a combination of variables. Several impacts of climate variability directly or indirectly involve the wind speed. One of the main ways in which variations in air temperature affect the biosphere is through the sensible heat flux density, which is dependent on the wind speed
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