Global Trends in Wind Speed and Wave Height
Studies of climate change typically consider measurements or predictions of temperature over extended periods of time. Climate, however, is much more than temperature. Over the oceans, changes in wind speed and the surface gravity waves generated by such winds play an important role. We used a 23-ye...
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Published in | Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 332; no. 6028; pp. 451 - 455 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Washington, DC
American Association for the Advancement of Science
22.04.2011
The American Association for the Advancement of Science |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Studies of climate change typically consider measurements or predictions of temperature over extended periods of time. Climate, however, is much more than temperature. Over the oceans, changes in wind speed and the surface gravity waves generated by such winds play an important role. We used a 23-year database of calibrated and validated satellite altimeter measurements to investigate global changes in oceanic wind speed and wave height over this period. We find a general global trend of increasing values of wind speed and, to a lesser degree, wave height, over this period. The rate of increase is greater for extreme events as compared to the mean condition. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
DOI: | 10.1126/science.1197219 |