edu.ucar.opensky::articles:10296 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-26T14:55:22.872485 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7h70g8k Probability distributions of land surface wind speeds over North America 2010-02-18T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7h70g8k https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010708 He, Y. author Monahan, A. author Jones, C. author Dai, Aiguo author Biner, S. author Caya, D. author Winger, K. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher Knowledge of the probability distributions of surface wind speeds (SWS) is essential for surface flux estimation, wind power estimation, and wind risk assessments. The two-parameter Weibull distribution is the most widely used empirical distribution for SWS. This study considers the probability density function (PDF) of 3-hourly observations from 720 weather stations over North America for the period 1979–1999. The PDF of SWS is classified by season, time of day, and land surface type. The Weibull PDF is characterized by a particular relationship between the mean, standard deviation, and skewness. While the moments of the observed daytime SWS PDF are found to collapse around this Weibull relationship, the observed nighttime PDF has a broader range of values and is significantly more skewed than the Weibull PDF over rough surfaces. An idealized model shows that SWS skewness has a much greater rate of change with both the mean and standard deviation of surface buoyancy flux under conditions of stable stratification than that of unstable stratification. This result suggests that surface buoyancy flux plays an important role in generating diurnal variation of SWS PDF. Two global reanalyses products (ERA-40 and NCEP-NCAR) and three regional climate models (RCMs) (Rossby Centre Atmospheric Model version 3 (RCA3), limited area version of Global Environmental Multiscale Model (GEM-LAM), and Canadian Regional Climate Model, version 4 (CRCM4)) all have a less skewed nighttime PDF and a more narrow range of the normal wind speed during day and night. Among them, two of the RCMs capture the observed SWS differences across different land cover types, and only one of the RCMs produces the observed seasonal peak of SWS PDF. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union None eng geoscientificInformation