Variations in wind direction and speed from arctic to the Caspian Sea as a manifestation of modern climate changes

Abstract

The regularities in present-day variations in the wind speed vector are examined at 18 stations along the section from Kola Peninsula to the Caspian Sea. Data on long-term variations in the major climate-forming factors and climatic parameters are generalized. The statistically significant tendency toward a considerable decline in the wind speed with a maximum module and the most frequent wind speeds of zonal, mostly western, directions (this tendency has been revealed earlier for the eastern coast of the middle and southern Caspian Sea) was found to hold for the greater part of the European Russia. Possible causes of present-day climate changes and their manifestations at the regional level are analyzed. A possible mechanism of present-day climate changes is proposed