Katherine Klink

Trends and Interannual Variability of Wind Speed Distributions in Minnesota

Abstract Near-surface wind speed variability is investigated at seven stations in and surrounding Minnesota for recent climate records of 22–35 yr in length. Analyses focus on mean annual wind speeds and on the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of the annual distributions of mean daily wind speeds. Most of the seven stations showed a trend toward reduced mean annual wind speeds, though one station showed increasing speeds and one station had no overall trend. In general, wind speed trends were most pronounced at the 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of the annual distributions, regardless of the trend in the mean. The shape and central tendency of the distributions at each station also could vary markedly from one year to the next.

Climatological mean and interannual variance of United States surface wind speed, direction and velocity

Means and variances of monthly mean wind speed, direction and velocity (the mean resultant vector) are derived for the period 1961–1990 at 216 stations in the coterminous United States. Direction and velocity means and variances are calculated using a complex-arithmetic extension of the equations for scalar mean and variance. Variance is derived from the 30-year time series of monthly means. While analyses of monthly mean wind fields are common, accompanying analyses of speed, direction, and velocity variance do not generally accompany them. Mean monthly wind direction and velocity fields show a typical seasonal progression from westerly and northwesterly winds in winter, to southerly winds in summer. Scalar and vector wind speeds are highest in winter and spring, and lowest in the summer. Seasonal variation in the mean fields is related to seasonal changes in mean sea level pressure, particularly east of the Rocky Mountains. In the western United States, mean winds often reflect channeling by local topography. The interannual variance of mean monthly wind speed, direction and velocity are related to seasonal variability in synoptic-scale features, such as the frequency of cyclones and anticyclones. Low variance occurs at a number of stations in the west, where topography restricts the range of wind variability. High velocity variance appears when both speed and direction variability are high, but it can occur also when speed variance is high and direction variance is low (or vice versa). Low velocity variance can result from low speed and direction variance, or from low mean wind velocities. The mean and variance characteristics of surface winds provide additional information on the surface climatology of the coterminous United States, and serve as a useful adjunct to other extant land-surface climatologies. Copyright

Atmospheric Circulation Effects on Wind Speed Variability at Turbine Height

Abstract Mean monthly wind speed at 70 m above ground level is investigated for 11 sites in Minnesota for the period 1995–2003. Wind speeds at these sites show significant spatial and temporal coherence, with prolonged periods of above- and below-normal values that can persist for as long as 12 months. Monthly variation in wind speed primarily is determined by the north–south pressure gradient, which captures between 22% and 47% of the variability (depending on the site). Regression on wind speed residuals (pressure gradient effects removed) shows that an additional 6%–15% of the variation can be related to the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and Nino-3.4 sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Wind speeds showed little correspondence with variation in the Pacific–North American (PNA) circulation index. The effect of the strong El Nino of 1997/98 on the wind speed time series was investigated by recomputing the regression equations with this period excluded. The north–south pressure gradient remains the primary ...

Monitoring and Understanding Changes in Extremes: Extratropical Storms, Winds, and Waves

This scientific assessment examines changes in three climate extremes—extratropical storms, winds, and waves—with an emphasis on U.S. coastal regions during the cold season. There is moderate evidence of an increase in both extratropical storm frequency and intensity during the cold season in the Northern Hemisphere since 1950, with suggestive evidence of geographic shifts resulting in slight upward trends in offshore/coastal regions. There is also suggestive evidence of an increase in extreme winds (at least annually) over parts of the ocean since the early to mid-1980s, but the evidence over the U.S. land surface is inconclusive. Finally, there is moderate evidence of an increase in extreme waves in winter along the Pacific coast since the 1950s, but along other U.S. shorelines any tendencies are of modest magnitude compared with historical variability. The data for extratropical cyclones are considered to be of relatively high quality for trend detection, whereas the data for extreme winds and waves ar...

Complementary Use of Scalar, Directional, and Vector Statistics with an Application to Surface Winds

Vector data are not uncommon in geography, and include examples such as transportation flows, particulate transport, and cartographic distortion. The directional and vector means and variances of these types of data are easily computed using a complex-arithmetic extension of the equations for scalar mean and variance. The January surface wind field over the contiguous United States provides an example with which to compare the information provided by scalar, directional and vector-based statistics. Spatial patterns of the mean and variance of January wind velocity (the wind vector) resemble patterns of wind speeds and directions but are not a simple superposition of the two, and one cannot necessarily infer the nature of the velocity field from separately computed salar and directional statistics. However, scalar and directional means and variances can lend insight into the features contributing to the velocity mean and variance. Scalar, directional, and vector-based analyses thus provide complementary me...

Relationships between Snow and the Wintertime Minneapolis Urban Heat Island

AbstractUrban heat islands (UHIs) are one of the best-recorded incidences of anthropogenic climate change. Studies from across the globe have examined this phenomenon, but relatively few have focused on cold-winter cities and the effects of snow cover and snowfall. This study uses hourly temperature measurements from 1 December 2008 through 28 February 2009 at 22 urban sites in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to investigate the effect of snow cover and snowfall on the UHI. Snow effects on temperature are estimated for calm conditions using a linear mixed-effect (LME) model. For the winter of 2008/09, the average wintertime UHI was approximately 1.0°C, with a peak near midday rather than at night. The LME model results suggest that a snow cover of 5 cm or more increased the magnitude of the UHI by about 1.0°C during the day and by about 0.5°C at night. The model also indicates that the presence of moderate snowfall decreased the magnitude of the UHI by up to 2.0°C, although this result is based on a comparatively ...

Temporal sensitivity of regional climate to land surface heterogeneity

Increased interest in climate change at local and regional scales has prompted climate simulations for regional areas, but tests of climate models have not specifically examined the impacts of regional heterogeneity, and they have largely overlooked possible temporal sensitivity. In this study I used a coupled surface-atmosphere mesoscale model to evaluate the effects of regional heterogeneity in five land-surface parameters that have the strongest impacts on the surface energy balance: albedo, roughness, canopy resistance, rooting profile, and soil water content. I included temporal variability in climate sensitivity by completing a series of mid-month simulations representative of the June-September growing season. I modeled land surfaces of maize contrasted with bare soil, grass, or coniferous trees. Roughness discontinuities were important factors in determining regional energy balance and surface temperature for all three surface contrasts. The effects varied over the growing season as a function of ...