Marine wind is an example of one variable that changes in response to changing climate conditions.  Reconstructions of the historical wind field will help in understanding these changing conditions.

Over the past 100-years, ship-based wind observations were based on:
    (a) the Beaufort scale
    (b) anemometry
Ship observations are spatially and temporally sparse, and of uneven quality,
but they extend far back in time.

More recently, satellites have provided detailed measurements of the marine wind field.   While these are high-quality measurements, they are only available for a short period.   As these satellite data sets are extended in the future, they will help us understand wind variations on longer time scales.

LDEO scientists are using the complementary features of ship and satellite data to obtain the best possible historical reconstructions.
We are working to:
    (a) improve our wind reconstructions, and
    (b) extend the reconstruction effort to other variables (e.g., sea level
         pressure, land temperature),  including some variables measured
         by satellites (e.g., sea surface temperature).

Previous