Did the Beaufort Scale or the Wind Climate Change?

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 1071-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Peterson ◽  
L. Hasse
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
V. P. Evstigneev ◽  
◽  
N. A. Lemeshko ◽  
V. A. Naumova ◽  
M. P. Evstigneev ◽  
...  

The paper deals with assessing an impact of wind climate change on the wind energy potential of the Azov and Black Sea coast region. A lower estimate of operating time for wind power installation and a potential annual energy output for the region are given for the case of Vestas V117-4.2MW. Calculation has been performed of a long-term mean wind speed for two adjacent climatic periods (1954–1983 and 1984–2013) based on data from meteorological stations of the Black and Azov Sea region. The results show a decrease in wind speed at all meteorological stations except for Novorossiysk. The wind climate change is confirmed by comparing two adjoined 30-year periods and by estimating linear trends of the mean annual wind speed for the period 1954–2013, which are negative and significant for almost all meteorological stations in the region (α = 1 %). The trend values were estimated by the nonparametric method of robust linear smoothing using the Theil – Sen function. In the present study, the uncertainty of wind energy resource induced by a gradual wind climate change is estimated for perspective planning of this branch of energy sector. Despite the observed trends in the wind regime, average wind speeds in the Azov and Black Sea region are sufficient for planning the location of wind power plants.


2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 646-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia McMichael ◽  
Jon Barnett ◽  
Anthony J. McMichael

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-729
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Jim Hanan ◽  
Alan Dorin

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Millington ◽  
Peter M. Cox ◽  
Jonathan R. Moore ◽  
Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).


2001 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Moss ◽  
James Oswald ◽  
David Baines

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