| A comprehensive analysis of regional near-surface wind speed characteristics is presented based on data from 9 coastal sites, extending over periods of 20 to 39 years, with a mean duration of 33 years. Six terrestrial data sets were obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), and 3 additional buoy data sets came from the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). Data sets contain either sub-hourly or hourly wind speed averages from near-surface, single height anemometers. Extensive quality checks were performed to account for anemometer height changes, missing data, and flagged data.;Analyses focus on long-term temporal trends. Monthly, seasonal, and interannual long-term trends are analyzed utilizing low-order Gaussian moments and the Ordinary Linear Regression (OLR) technique; data autocorrelation is accounted for and additional statistical analysis is performed herein. Four sites exhibit statistically significant negative wind speed trends, 2 sites show statistically significant increased trends, and no trend is observed at 3 sites. Further data analyses include calculation of the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles of annual wind speeds and long-term temporal trends in the Weibull Probability Density Function (PDF) and the shape and scale parameters that describe the form of the distribution. The spatial variation of near-surface wind speed characteristics and regional wind speed climatology are also investigated.;Results indicate marked stilling in the annual mean, Weibull scale parameter, and 5th and 95th percentile values of wind speed at most terrestrial sites; opposite trends are generally observed at buoys and marine sites. Possible attributions of the source of the wind speed trends are also discussed. |
