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New Atlases Use NASA Data to Chart Ocean Winds

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Researchers compiled seven years of QuikScat data to create a never-before-available monthly atlas of how frequently high winds blow over the open ocean all over the world. The maps, which show where gales (winds greater than 39 knots or 45 miles per hour) are common, are available at http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/~takeaki/highwind/ . A paper on the findings was published recently in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society by researchers Takeaki Sampe and Shang-Ping Xie of the International Pacific Research Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Navigators can use these data to chart shipping routes. Energy companies can use the information to determine where to place oil rigs and plan offshore wind farms. Marine resource managers can use the data to help prevent coastal erosion and track oil spills. The U.S. Coast Guard and other organizations can use the data to conduct search and rescue efforts.

The data also provide insights into many ocean wind phenomena. High winds play an important role in Earth's climate. They remove heat from the ocean, leading to the formation of "deep water" -- cold, salty, dense water that helps drive global ocean circulation patterns. They also help exchange gases, such as carbon dioxide, between the oceans and the atmosphere, mix different types of ocean water, and pump nutrients up from the deep sea for plankton to feed on.

Among the researchers' findings:

- Earth's windiest ocean location is Cape Farewell, Greenland, where gale winds blow 16 percent of the time.

- Half of the top 10 windiest spots occur where tall coastlines or high mountains meet the sea.

- Strong winds are much more frequent on the warm side of cold-warm fronts formed where the Atlantic's warm Gulf Stream flows northward into cold ocean regions. This gives climate scientists important clues about how sharp differences in ocean surface temperatures affect the atmosphere, with warm ocean temperatures creating an unstable atmosphere that sucks strong winds down from aloft.

- Typhoons and hurricanes have little impact on the frequency of overall high winds, since they are less frequent than other types of storms in Earth's mid-latitudes.

"People know high winds are found in big storms," said Xie. "What is most...

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