TITLE:
Long-Term Trends in Near-Surface Wind Speed over the Southern Hemisphere: A Preliminary Analysis
AUTHORS:
Luiz Felipe N. Cardoso, Wanderson Luiz Silva, Maria G. A. Justi da Silva
KEYWORDS:
Climate Change, Mann-Kendall, Reanalysis, Southern Hemisphere, Trends, Wind Speed
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.7 No.7,
July
19,
2016
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.