Long–term Variations in Wind Speed in the Atmospheric Layer of 0–2 km over the Russian Arctic from Radiosonde Data for 1964–2016

Abstract

The results of the analysis of statistical characteristics for wind speed are presented for the lower 2–km atmospheric layer over the Russian Arctic. The calculations are based on radiosonde data for the observation period of 1964–2016. The data passed the procedure of complex control of quality and the procedure of quality control specially developed for the atmospheric layer of 0–2 km. The Akima cubic spline interpolation is used for computing wind speed. The trends are estimated using the classic method. It is shown that the spatiotemporal distribution of the trends is not uniform. Wind speed and its standard deviations in the analyzed layer over the Arctic mainly increase in the layer of 400–800 m above the surface.