Deep coastal seabeds, glacial erratics, and other geophysical hurdles stand in the way of offshore wind farm proliferation. Researchers, engineers, and organizations are adapting and inventing ways to harness the breeze.
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Posted inResearch Spotlights
Wind and Ocean Currents May Contribute to Mass Dolphin Strandings
Coastal wind patterns correlate with mass strandings of dolphins, suggesting that storm-induced upwelling could be influencing cetaceans’ behavior.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Thermospheric Cross-Polar Winds Observed to Unexpectedly Stall
Observations of cross-polar cap neutral winds near 240 km altitude stalling over short distances in the midnight sector near Poker Flat, Alaska, challenge the standard view of high-latitude dynamics.
Posted inNews
Eddy Killing in the Ocean
Solving the case of ocean eddy death could help climate modelers better represent the effect of wind.
Posted inNews
Dust on the Wind
A new study confirms that an important wind system is shifting due to climate change.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Successfully Simulating Atmospheric Gravity Waves
These waves are key to moving energy from the troposphere to the thermosphere, but until now they haven’t been well described at high altitudes in computer models.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Trans-Atlantic Dusts May Not Enrich Amazon as Much as Thought
New research indicates that nutrient loads delivered to South American ecosystems by dust originating in Africa are far lower than suggested in previous studies.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Megaripple Migration Offers Insights into Martian Atmosphere
The movement of large sand ripples, documented for the first time, suggests Mars is windier than we thought.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Explaining Cold and Fresh Southern Polar Ocean Surface Waters
Global climate models do not reproduce observed trends of the Southern polar ocean surface, but an increase in wind-transported sea ice that melts and inhibits mixing may account for the disparity.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Arctic Coast Erosion Linked to Large-Scale Climate Variability
Changes in rates of Arctic coastal erosion detected from multi-decadal measurements are attributed to the shorter duration in the winter sea ice coverage and large-scale changes in the wind patterns.