Earth's winds have picked up again, after years of slowing

The wind picked up.

After Earth’s average surface winds speeds steadily declined for three straight decades beginning in the late 1970s, new research published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change illustrates the winds have now recovered. The results, which show winds fell and then increased due to natural fluctuations in both the atmosphere and ocean, bodes well for the future of wind energy. 

Previously, an explanation for the slowing of the planet’s low-altitude winds, dubbed “terrestrial stilling,” blamed human activity. The theory asserted that the construction of buildings, metropolitan areas, and fields of wind turbines themselves created an unnatural “roughness” on Earth's surface, which then dampened winds, explained Zhenzhong Zeng, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University and lead author of the study. Read more...

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