The Probability Distribution of Sea Surface Wind Speeds

The statistical structure of sea surface wind speeds is considered, both in terms of the leading-order moments (mean, standard deviation, and skewness) and in terms of the parameters of a best-fit Weibull distribution. An intercomparison is made of the statistical structure of sea surface wind speed data from four different datasets: SeaWinds scatterometer observations, a blend of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) satellite observations with ECMWF analyses, and two reanalysis products [NCEP–NCAR and 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40)]. It is found that while the details of the statistical structure of sea surface wind speeds differs between the datasets, the leading-order features of the distributions are consistent. In particular, it is found in all datasets that the skewness of the wind speed is a concave upward function of the ratio of the mean wind speed to its standard deviation, such that the skewness is positive where the ratio is relatively small (such as over the extratropical Northern Hemisphere), the skewness is close to zero where the ratio is intermediate (such as the Southern Ocean), and the skewness is negative where the ratio is relatively large (such as the equatorward flank of the subtropical highs). This relationship between moments is also found in buoy observations of sea surface winds. In addition, the seasonal evolution of the probability distribution of sea surface wind speeds is characterized. It is found that the statistical structure on seasonal time scales shares the relationships between moments characteristic of the year-round data. Furthermore, the seasonal data are shown to depart from Weibull behavior in the same fashion as the year-round data, indicating that non-Weibull structure in the year-round data does not arise due to seasonal nonstationarity in the parameters of a strictly Weibull time series.

[1]  J. O'Brien,et al.  Weibull Statistics of Wind Speed over the Ocean , 1986 .

[2]  Wade R. McGillis,et al.  A cubic relationship between air‐sea CO2 exchange and wind speed , 1999 .

[3]  E. Bauer.  CHARACTERISTIC FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS OF REMOTELY SENSED IN SITU AND MODELLED WIND SPEEDS , 1996 .

[4]  W. Timothy Liu,et al.  Equivalent Neutral Wind , 1996 .

[5]  Peter K. Taylor,et al.  Intercomparison and validation of ocean–atmosphere energy flux fields. Final report of the Joint WCRP/SCOR Working Group on Air–Sea Fluxes (SCOR Working Group 110) , 2000 .

[6]  Lars Landberg,et al.  Wind power meteorology. Part II: siting and models , 1998 .

[7]  Cecile Penland,et al.  NOISE OUT OF CHAOS AND WHY IT WON'T GO AWAY , 2003 .

[8]  D. Erickson,et al.  Non‐Weibull behavior observed in a model‐generated global surface wind field frequency distribution , 1989 .

[9]  Peter Cornillon,et al.  Air–sea interaction over ocean fronts and eddies , 2008 .

[10]  Matthew Newman,et al.  The Impact of Rapid Wind Variability upon Air–Sea Thermal Coupling , 2007 .

[11]  F. J. Wentz,et al.  A model function for ocean radar cross sections at 14.6 GHz , 1984 .

[12]  F. Wentz.  A well‐calibrated ocean algorithm for special sensor microwave / imager , 1997 .

[13]  R. Stull.  An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology , 1988 .

[14]  Surface fluxes from satellite winds: Modeling air-sea flux enhancement from spatial and temporal observations , 1999 .

[15]  K. Conradsen,et al.  Review of Weibull Statistics for Estimation of Wind Speed Distributions , 1984 .

[16]  Gregory C. Johnson,et al.  Comparisons of Scatterometer and TAO Winds Reveal Time-Varying Surface Currents for the Tropical Pacific Ocean* , 2005 .

[17]  Gerhard H. Jirka,et al.  Gas transfer at water surfaces , 1984 .

[18]  Gregory C. Johnson,et al.  Ocean currents evident in satellite wind data , 2001 .

[19]  A. Monahan.  The Probability Distribution of Sea Surface Wind Speeds. Part I: Theory and SeaWinds Observations , 2006 .

[20]  Erik Lundtang Petersen,et al.  Wind power meteorology. Part I: climate and turbulence , 1998 .

[21]  D. Wright,et al.  Time-Averaged Forms of the Nonlinear Stress Law , 1983 .

[22]  D. Wright,et al.  Estimation of Low-Frequency Wind Stress Fluctuations over the Open Ocean , 1983 .

[23]  A. Brett,et al.  The Characteristics of Wind Velocity that Favor the Fitting of a Weibull Distribution in Wind Speed Analysis , 1984 .

[24]  V. Krasnopolsky,et al.  A neural network as a nonlinear transfer function model for retrieving surface wind speeds from the special sensor microwave imager , 1995 .

[25]  Naoto Ebuchi.  Statistical distribution of wind speeds and directions globally observed by NSCAT , 1999 .

[26]  A. Sterl,et al.  Intercomparison of Different Wind–Wave Reanalyses , 2004 .

[27]  R. Barthelmie,et al.  Statistical analysis of flow characteristics in the coastal zone , 2002 .

[28]  Joseph P. Hennessey.  Some Aspects of Wind Power Statistics , 1977 .

[29]  J. Lumley,et al.  Air-Sea Interaction: Laws and Mechanisms , 2001 .

[30]  W. R. Hargraves,et al.  Methods for Estimating Wind Speed Frequency Distributions. , 1978 .

[31]  M. Rockinger,et al.  Gram–Charlier densities , 2001 .

[32]  D. A. Stewart,et al.  Frequency Distribution of Wind Speed Near the Surface , 1978 .

[33]  B. Stevens.  Entrainment in stratocumulus‐topped mixed layers , 2002 .

[34]  O. Torres,et al.  Incorporating the effect of small‐scale circulations upon dust emission in an atmospheric general circulation model , 2004 .

[35]  Jef L. Teugels,et al.  Challenges in modelling stochasticity in wind , 2002 .

[36]  A. Monahan.  A Simple Model for the Skewness of Global Sea Surface Winds , 2004 .

[37]  Michael H. Freilich,et al.  Scatterometer-Based Assessment of 10-m Wind Analyses from the Operational ECMWF and NCEP Numerical Weather Prediction Models , 2005 .

[38]  Xiaojun Yuan,et al.  High-wind-speed evaluation in the Southern Ocean , 2004 .

[39]  C. Penland.  A STOCHASTIC APPROACH TO NONLINEAR DYNAMICS , 2003 .

[40]  M. Spall.  Midlatitude Wind Stress–Sea Surface Temperature Coupling in the Vicinity of Oceanic Fronts , 2007 .

[41]  K. Vahala.  Handbook of stochastic methods for physics, chemistry and the natural sciences , 1986, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.

[42]  Abderrahim Bentamy,et al.  Ocean surface wind fields estimated from satellite active and passive microwave instruments , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[43]  Y. Toba,et al.  Wind Stress over the Ocean , 2008 .

[44]  Marvin D. Troutt,et al.  Estimation of Wind Speed Distribution Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Techniques , 2001 .

[45]  Philip Sura,et al.  Stochastic Analysis of Southern and Pacific Ocean Sea Surface Winds , 2003 .

[46]  R. Wanninkhof.  Relationship between wind speed and gas exchange over the ocean , 1992 .

[47]  M. Rodwell,et al.  Subtropical Anticyclones and Summer Monsoons , 2001 .

[48]  D. Chelton,et al.  Satellite Measurements Reveal Persistent Small-Scale Features in Ocean Winds , 2004, Science.

[49]  L. Hasse,et al.  The Scientific Beaufort Equivalent Scale: Effects on Wind Statistics and Climatological Air-Sea Flux Estimates in the North Atlantic Ocean , 1991 .

[50]  S. Swain.  Handbook of Stochastic Methods for Physics, Chemistry and the Natural Sciences , 1984 .

[51]  Mark A. Bourassa,et al.  SeaWinds validation with research vessels , 2003 .

[52]  J. Wyngaard,et al.  The Atmospheric Boundary Layer , 2019, Wind Effects on Structures.

[53]  R. Reynolds,et al.  The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project , 1996, Renewable Energy.

[54]  A. Monahan.  Low‐frequency variability of the statistical moments of sea surface winds , 2004 .

[55]  Robert Atlas,et al.  A Multiyear Global Surface Wind Velocity Dataset Using SSM/I Wind Observations , 1996 .

[56]  K. Kelly.  Wind Data: A Promise in Peril , 2004, Science.

[57]  Michael J. Caruso,et al.  Evaluation of Wind Vectors Observed by QuikSCAT/SeaWinds Using Ocean Buoy Data , 2002 .

[58]  Frank J. Wentz,et al.  A 10 year intercomparison between collocated Special Sensor Microwave Imager oceanic surface wind speed retrievals and global analyses , 2001 .

[59]  Mark A. Donelan,et al.  Gas transfer at water surfaces. , 2002 .

[60]  E. Takle,et al.  Note on the Use of Weibull Statistics to Characterize Wind-Speed Data , 1978 .

[61]  William W. Hsieh,et al.  Applying Neural Network Models to Prediction and Data Analysis in Meteorology and Oceanography. , 1998 .

[62]  Henryk Gzyl,et al.  Noise-induced transitions: Theory and applications in physics, chemistry and biology , 1988 .

[63]  P. K. Taylor,et al.  The Dependence of Sea Surface Roughness on the Height and Steepness of the Waves , 2001 .

[64]  E. F. Bradley,et al.  Bulk Parameterization of Air–Sea Fluxes: Updates and Verification for the COARE Algorithm , 2003 .

[65]  D. Deaves,et al.  On the fitting of low mean windspeed data to the Weibull distribution , 1997 .

[66]  Jielun Sun,et al.  The Subgrid Velocity Scale in the Bulk Aerodynamic Relationship for Spatially Averaged Scalar Fluxes , 1995 .

[67]  Abderrahim Bentamy,et al.  Satellite Estimates of Wind Speed and Latent Heat Flux over the Global Oceans , 2003 .

[68]  Lars Landberg,et al.  Wind Power Meteorology , 1997 .