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Wind speed climatology and trends for Australia, 1975–2006: Capturing the stilling phenomenon and comparison with near‐surface reanalysis output
Author(s) -
McVicar Tim R.,
Van Niel Thomas G.,
Li Ling Tao,
Roderick Michael L.,
Rayner David P.,
Ricciardulli Lucrezia,
Donohue Randall J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl035627
Subject(s) - climatology , environmental science , anemometer , meteorology , wind speed , magnitude (astronomy) , range (aeronautics) , mesoscale meteorology , sea breeze , latitude , geology , geography , geodesy , physics , materials science , composite material , astronomy
Near‐surface wind speeds ( u ) measured by terrestrial anemometers show declines (a ‘stilling’) at a range of mid‐latitude sites, but two gridded u datasets (a NCEP/NCAR reanalysis output and a surface‐pressure‐based u model) have not reproduced the stilling observed at Australian stations. We developed Australia‐wide 0.01° resolution daily u grids by interpolating measurements from an expanded anemometer network for 1975–2006. These new grids represented the magnitude and spatial‐variability of observed u trends, whereas grids from reanalysis systems (NCEP/NCAR, NCEP/DOE and ERA40) essentially did not, even when minimising the sea‐breeze impact. For these new grids, the Australian‐averaged u trend for 1975–2006 was −0.009 m s −1 a −1 (agreeing with earlier site‐based studies) with stilling over 88% of the land‐surface. This new dataset can be used in numerous environmental applications, including benchmarking general circulation models to improve the representation of key parameters that govern u estimation. The methodology implemented here can be applied globally.