Multiplatform evaluation of global trends in wind speed and wave height

Ocean winds blowing harder Two frequently asked questions about how climate warming will affect the environment are whether windiness might change and what effects that might have on ocean waves. Young and Ribal analyzed global satellite data over the period from 1985 to 2018 to determine if there a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Young, Ian R., Ribal, Agustinus
Other Authors: Australian Research Council
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aav9527
https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.aav9527
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aav9527
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Summary:Ocean winds blowing harder Two frequently asked questions about how climate warming will affect the environment are whether windiness might change and what effects that might have on ocean waves. Young and Ribal analyzed global satellite data over the period from 1985 to 2018 to determine if there are any trends in oceanic wind speed and wave height. They found small increases in both quantities, with the strongest increases in extreme conditions and in the Southern Ocean. These findings are important for understanding air-sea exchange of energy and carbon dioxide and for projecting sea levels during storms. Science , this issue p. 548