Long-Term Trends in Near-Surface Wind Speed over the Southern Hemisphere: A Preliminary Analysis

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.