Posted on 06/10/2009 12:37:50 PM PDT by Andyman
By AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming - the very problem wind power seeks to address.
The idea that winds may be slowing is still a speculative one, and scientists disagree whether that is happening. But a first-of-its-kind study suggests that average and peak wind speeds have been noticeably slowing since 1973, especially in the Midwest and the East.
"It's a very large effect," said study co-author Eugene Takle, a professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University. In some places in the Midwest, the trend shows a 10 percent drop or more over a decade. That adds up when the average wind speed in the region is about 10 to 12 miles per hour.
There's been a jump in the number of low or no wind days in the Midwest, said the study's lead author, Sara Pryor, an atmospheric scientist at Indiana University.
Wind measurements plotted out on U.S. maps by Pryor show wind speeds falling mostly along and east of the Mississippi River. Some areas that are banking on wind power, such as west Texas and parts of the Northern Plains, do not show winds slowing nearly as much. Yet, states such as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas, Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, northern Maine and western Montana show some of the biggest drop in wind speeds.
"The stations bordering the Great Lakes do seem to have experienced the greatest changes," Pryor said Tuesday. That's probably because there's less ice on the lakes and wind speeds faster across ice than it does over water, she said.
Still, the study, which will be published in August in the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research, is preliminary. There are enough questions that even the authors say it's too early to know if this is a real trend or not. But it raises a new side effect of global warming that hasn't been looked into before.
The ambiguity of the results is due to changes in wind-measuring instruments over the years, according to Pryor. And while actual measurements found diminished winds, some climate computer models _ which are not direct observations _ did not, she said.
Yet, a couple of earlier studies also found wind reductions in Australia and Europe, offering more comfort that the U.S. findings are real, Pryor and Takle said.
It also makes sense based on how weather and climate work, Takle said. In global warming, the poles warm more and faster than the rest of the globe, and temperature records, especially in the Arctic, show this. That means the temperature difference between the poles and the equator shrinks and with it the difference in air pressure in the two regions. Differences in barometric pressure are a main driver in strong winds. Lower pressure difference means less wind.
Even so, that information doesn't provide the definitive proof that science requires to connect reduced wind speeds to global warming, the authors said. In climate change science, there is a rigorous and specific method - which looks at all possible causes and charts their specific effects - to attribute an effect to global warming. That should be done eventually with wind, scientists say.
Jeff Freedman, an atmospheric scientist with AWS Truewind, an Albany, N.Y., renewable energy consulting firm, has studied the same topic, but hasn't published in a scientific journal yet. He said his research has found no definitive trend of reduced surface wind speed.
One of the problems Pryor acknowledges with her study is that over many years, changing conditions near wind-measuring devices can skew data. If trees grow or buildings are erected near wind gauges, that could reduce speed measurements.
Several outside experts mostly agree that there are signs that wind speed is decreasing and that global warming is the likely culprit.
The new study "demonstrates, rather conclusively in my mind, that average and peak wind speeds have decreased over the U.S. in recent decades," said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University.
A naysayer is Gavin Schmidt, a NASA climate scientist in New York who said the results conflict with climate models that show no effect from global warming. He also doubts that any decline in the winds that might be occurring has much of an effect on wind power.
But another expert, Jonathan Miles, of James Madison University, said a 10 percent reduction in wind speeds over a decade "would have an enormous effect on power production."
Pryor said a 10 percent change in peak winds would translate into a 30 percent change in how much energy is reaped. But because the research is in such early stages, she said, "at this point it would be premature to modify wind energy development plans."
Robert Gramlich, policy director at the American Wind Energy Association, said the idea of reduced winds was new to him. He wants to see verification from other studies before he worries too much about it.
“The idea that winds may be slowing is still a speculative one, and scientists disagree whether that is happening.”
Yet the headline totally screams panic mode.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2268596/posts
Not so windy: Research suggests winds dying down
Associated Press ^ | Jun 10, 2009 | Seth Borenstein
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 6:25:38 AM by decimon
What I found interesting was the desire to look at the data, and wait for more, or wait for clarification before deciding what to do. Yet there is a total disinterest in doing so for global warming.
Sorry, did a search for “wind” and found nothing.
They need to get to Tucson, we’ve had unusually high levels of wind most of the year.
If folks actually believe in God, they might think that He has something to do with controlling the weather. If you are a humanist and believe that man is god, then it follows that man controls the weather.
All the lunacy that we are witnessing is the result of the mass rejection of God.
Windmills slow down the wind. They take energy out of the air, right?
Well we know it is something else then simple disinterest.
There is too much at political stake if GW or any major climate change is proven to be beyond the cause of humans or beyond ability to change it.
This is nuts, if we are warming the globe we are putting more energy into it, causing more convection, ie MORE wind. Me things they shot themselves in the foot here. Global Warming is a gigantic HOAX designed to make money for the likes of Al Gore George Soros, and give the Governments something new to tax. The Air. It’s all complete BS.
I'd check the bearings first, and then see if all the little propeller blades are still intact!
So this means that wind power already cannot save us. (sarcasm)
Wouldn’t global warming actually INCREASE wind speeds?
At least that is what the GM crowd has been saying. Wind speed (and tornados, hurricanes, etc...) feed off of warmer weather. A warmer planet would produce more wind (and more tornados, hurricanes, etc...)
Well, it appears that there is no global warming in the recent past - therefore consistent with reduced winds.
Well, it appears that there is no global warming in the recent past - therefore consistent with reduced winds.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
My point was that (once again) the GW supporters are saying the exact opposite of what they have been saying in the past.
Wind speeds increase: cause = global warming
Wind speeds decrease: cause = global warming
No matter what is happening, it is blamed on global warming.
So....
we’re told hurricanes will intensify and become more numerous because of global warming
and...
storms will be more intense because of global warming
but...
winds are dying down becase of global warming
got it.
The bastard didn’t research the interior of Alaska. It’s been windier every year up here. That’s where it must have gone.
No matter what is happening, it is blamed on global warming.
Exactly. The one great constant in science is global warming. Anything and everything else may change, but global warming and the need for more taxes to cure it, remains constant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.