Seasonality, Interannual Variability, and Linear Tendency of Wind Speeds in the Northeast Brazil from 1986 to 2011

Wind speed analyses are currently being employed in several fields, especially in wind power generation. In this study, we used wind speed data from records of Universal Fuess anemographs at an altitude of 10 m from 47 weather stations of the National Institute of Meteorology (Instituto Nacional de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:TheScientificWorld 2013-01, Vol.2013 (2013), p.1-10
Main Authors: Torres Silva dos Santos, Alexandre, e Silva, Claudio Moises Santos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Atmospheric circulation
Brazil
Climate change
Climatology
Cluster analysis
El Nino
Electric power generation
Electric power production
La Nina
Management
Meteorology
Missing data
Models, Theoretical
Rain
Seasonal variations
Seasons
Speed
Statistical methods
Statistics
Studies
Trend analysis
Trends
Weather
Weather stations
Wind
Wind power
Wind power generation
Wind speed
Winds
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Summary:Wind speed analyses are currently being employed in several fields, especially in wind power generation. In this study, we used wind speed data from records of Universal Fuess anemographs at an altitude of 10 m from 47 weather stations of the National Institute of Meteorology (Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia-INMET) from January 1986 to December 2011. The objective of the study was to investigate climatological aspects and wind speed trends. To this end, the following methods were used: filling of missing data, descriptive statistical calculations, boxplots, cluster analysis, and trend analysis using the Mann-Kendall statistical method. The seasonal variability of the average wind speeds of each group presented higher values for winter and spring and lower values in the summer and fall. The groups G1, G2, and G5 showed higher annual averages in the interannual variability of wind speeds. These observed peaks were attributed to the El Niño and La Niña events, which change the behavior of global wind circulation and influence wind speeds over the region. Trend analysis showed more significant negative values for the G3, G4, and G5 groups for all seasons of the year and in the annual average for the period under study.
ISSN:2356-6140
1537-744X
1537-744X
DOI:10.1155/2013/490857