Wind speed climatology and trends for Australia, 1975-2006: Capturing the stilling phenomenon and comparison with near-surface reanalysis output

Near-surface wind speeds (u) measured by terrestrial anemometers show declines (a 'stilling') at a range of mid-latitude sites, but two gridded u datasets (a NCEP/NCAR reanalysis output and a surface-pressure-based u model) have not reproduced the stilling observed at Australian stations. We developed Australia-wide 0.01 degrees resolution daily u grids by interpolating measurements from an expanded anemometer network for 1975-2006. These new grids represented the magnitude and spatial-variability of observed u trends, whereas grids from reanalysis systems (NCEP/NCAR, NCEP/DOE and ERA40) essentially did not, even when minimising the sea-breeze impact. For these new grids, the Australian-averaged u trend for 1975-2006 was -0.009 m s(-1) a(-1) (agreeing with earlier site-based studies) with stilling over 88% of the land-surface. This new dataset can be used in numerous environmental applications, including benchmarking general circulation models to improve the representation of key parameters that govern u estimation. The methodology implemented here can be applied globally. Citation: McVicar, T. R., T. G. Van Niel, L. T. Li, M. L. Roderick, D. P. Rayner, L. Ricciardulli, and R. J. Donohue (2008), Wind speed climatology and trends for Australia, 1975 2006: Capturing the stilling phenomenon and comparison with near-surface reanalysis output, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L20403, doi: 10.1029/2008GL035627.