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Originally Posted by Boerseun
Winds slowing down? That's very interesting. I'm sure that should be purely a localized phenomenon. I mean, with Global Warming being what it is, the increased energy in the atmosphere should imply that if winds are slowing down for any given area, it should be speeding up in other locales?
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The first article I linked to mentioned how wind farming's effect is most likely only localized. As to this winds slowing down business, I'm not sure. In fact, the amount of doubt in that article is pretty telling. The prime investigator herself concludes that the slow down may be an artifact of changing conditions around monitoring stations (local effects like vegetation growth, building construction, and other local environmental factors).
But, if we assume that the winds slowing down is accurate, then your question is a good one. I think the problem is not so much related to total energy as it is to the amount of variation between temperature extremes. So, as the poles warm, the temp differences between the poles and the equator should start to close the gap with temperature control regulated more by the atmosphere with less contribution from the tilt of the Earth and angle of incidence of the sun's rays. In theory, this could contribute to slowing winds, absent winds, and a breakdown of global currents.
Quote:
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Wind occurs on a range of scales, from local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting tens of minutes, to global winds resulting from the difference in absorption of solar energy between the climate zones on Earth. The two major driving factors of large scale atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, which causes the jet stream and the associated climatological mid-latitude westerlies, polar easterlies, and the trade winds, and the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect), which causes the circular motion of air around areas of high and low pressure.
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wind
I wonder if the author considered correlating her data with measurements of global currents?
