Science Source
A reversal in global terrestrial stilling and its implications for wind energy production
- Uses wind data from in situ stations worldwide to show that the decrease in global average surface wind speed observed for decades reversed around 2010 and that global wind speeds over land have recovered
- Illustrates that decadal-scale variations of near-surface wind are probably determined by internal decadal ocean–atmosphere oscillations, rather than by vegetation growth and/or urbanization as hypothesized previously
- Concludes that the use of ocean–atmosphere oscillations to anticipate future wind speeds could allow optimization of turbines for expected speeds during their productive life spans
