Earth Getting Mysteriously Windier

The world has gotten stormier over the past two decades—and the reason is a mystery, a new study says.

In the past 20 years, winds have picked up around 5 percent on average.

Extremely strong winds caused by storms have increased even faster, jumping 10 percent over 20 years, according to the new analysis of global satellite data.

The study, the first to look at wind speeds across such a large swath of the planet, bolsters some earlier findings, according to study leader Ian Young, of the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

"Some regional studies had found similar results, so we suspected there may be an increasing trend," Young said.

I've really noticed this trend lately. It seems to be windy quite a bit more often than I can remember. Of course with higher winds comes more storms, and more severe weather. It also causes higher waves that lead to a phenomena called microseisms, which are usually filtered out as backround noise by scientists. If this is causing the earth to become noisier that may explain alot of the "phantom" sounds we are hearing lately--maybe even the "rumble."

"...pervasive seismic tremors observed around the world that arise from wind-generated waves"

Click here to read the article.

This is the time to start making more wind farms then.

Cheap and abundant electricity. Oh yea. it's safe too unless you get hit in the head with a blade!

I was thinking about this exact same thing yesterday, it just kind of felt "weird" outside. The wind just seemed different for some reason, odd coincidence.

And yes, before the "debunkers" come here...there have been 5 independent statistical techniques, using 8 different satellites to confirm this.

“We may be observing an upward increase of something that, in the future, will go down again,” said Ian Young, a physical oceanographer at the Australian National University in Canberra. “However, the fact that we’re seeing this on a global basis in both the northern and the southern hemispheres suggests it may be a long-term trend rather than an oscillation. If we’re going to design things in the future, we may want to actually factor in oceanic waves going up.”

Winds over the oceans directly influence wave heights, and orbiting satellites use altimeters to regularly monitor both. Scientists are interested in these measurements because they affect the exchange of heat and gasses between water and sky. Winds also influence the frequency and strength of major storms.

Various studies have shown upward trends in wind speed over the last decade or two, but all of those projects have focused on limited parts of the world. Young and colleagues wanted a more global perspective.

news.discovery.com...

This small effect is going to have large consequences....hurricances will be more strong, so will waves; tsunamis..

It's all a domino effect...and everything just seems to be triggered in this decade, in the last few years...it's frightening indeed.

Haha amazingly today, I thought...... hmm this wind is weird
Maaaad!!!!

S&F! Changes of 5-10% seem minor but in the context of how much area we are talking it is a huge amount when taken in the context of an entire world. That the Earth is in a cycle of change is now beyond a doubt.I also think this has happened several previous times to other civilizations on a 10-11000yr cycle. I think what brings this one to a real head is the coincidence of the ,magnetic shift and the solar period of instability. The increased energy being imparted to the atmosphere I would suspect is fueling this phenomena coupled with perhaps the dirty smudges of our fingers tipping a balance here or there.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Well, we know the difference in air pressure is the cause of wind.

I believe the Earth is actually entering another Ice-Age that is being hampered by a diminished Magnetosphere and high level Solar/Cosmic weather.

This gives us a cooling planet (lower pressures) that is subject to intense erratic microwave energy inputs from both the Sun and the Cosmos (higher pressures).

The increased difference between pressures resulting in stronger weather.

Cosmic...

The Earth will be unlivable for humanity by the year 2021 at the present rate of wind speed increase. Scientists believe the increase in wind speed is due to the carbonization of cola and the wind released when a cola can tab is pressed in. There are statistics that prove this but I cannot link to them at the moment. We must ban all carbonized waters, colas, and other liquids immediately! If not ban, then at least start a carbonized water trade market where individuals can buy and sell their allotments with a reduction of carbonization of 2.5% per year over the next 10 years.

Well if we stopped tearing down the forests maybe the winds would calm down a bit eh?

I'm not sure if that actually factors into stronger winds or not, but it seems to make logical sense to me.

~keeper

I can't remember how long ago it was, but I distinctly remember listening to a coast to coast am show about earth changes and how the wind will be blowing steadily at about 200-300 miles per hour. I wish I could remember more about the show, but it's been years...

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Indeed...and hence the large amount of soil erosion and such.

One effect...causes another..and another and before we know it, there's too much on our plates to even try to rectify.

reply to post by Cosmic4life


Since the Earth, and especially higher northern latitudes, have been warming then we are very clearly not entering a new ice age, quite the opposite (though in theory higher northern latitudes should be cooling due to reduced axial tilt). My guess is that thanks to various human activities, climate is getting more chaotic. It may take a few decades to settle down again.

Burn down the Malaysian rainforest to produce cheap palm oil and beware of unintended consequences .....

Incidently, over the last few years, Britain has become less windy - due to less zonal weather occurring ie fewer Atlantic storms affecting our shores.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


I am most intrigued by that bit about waves causing microseisms - microseisms aren't earthquakes, but if they can move the earth's surface, maybe they help trigger earthquakes. Just a thought.

faint tremors, called microseisms, are periodic movements of Earth's surface that can last anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds.

Unlike earthquakes, which are caused by movements of Earth's tectonic plates, microseisms are created by the incessant beating of waves along the coasts.

The phenomena are usually dismissed as background noise by scientists studying earthquake readings.

S&F&

yeah i agree virt iv noticed the same thing here in norway ,,,, plus we re now getting heavier rains as well.....

nice thread as always.

Originally posted by Ventessa
I can't remember how long ago it was, but I distinctly remember listening to a coast to coast am show about earth changes and how the wind will be blowing steadily at about 200-300 miles per hour. I wish I could remember more about the show, but it's been years...

It certainly makes sense that so many governments and corprorations are moving underground. Things like seed vaults and massive DUMBs make more sense in a world of massively dropping temperatures and mega-wind storms. At least all of these plans seem more reasonable for that then they do for nuclear war, comet strikes, mega-volcanos, etc.

reply to post by larphillips


Yeah, I remember them saying it would be a really great idea to move someplace near a large body of fresh water. So you wouldn't have to travel far to get drinking water. And they said it would be a good idea to build underground shelters to avoid the winds.

It was so unusually windy here today in Montana. The wind picked up my neighbor's shed and tossed it around like it was a toy, then landed into my yard. Quite a surprise to see this thread come up.

Has anyone found any sort of real data on this? I can only go by what's going on outside my door, but it seems that since last fall, it's been consistantly very, very windy where I live. It seems that more days than not have had 'wind advisories' with steady winds of 20-30 MPH, not counting gusts.

I'm too far from Lake Erie for it to be lake winds, which would be coming from my north. These have been inconsistant, with some days blowing from the east, and others from the west.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0

Yikes, I didn't know the world is getting windier. I remember worst wind storms when I was a kid and didn't experience those kinds of winds these days. The storms in other areas seem to be getting pretty bad. I live in the desert, so it is normal to have a lot of windy days.