Need daily worldwide wind data...

August 20, 2008 9:39 AM

I'm looking for daily data about current global wind patterns.

I've seen NASA's and NOAA's wind maps and made my own with meteoblue, but what I really need is a daily (approximately), preferrably gridded summary of global wind velocities, including over land (NASA has many wind products, like QuickSCAT, but they only cover the ocean).

I could get velocities by sampling the pixels on a map image, but that leaves me without directions (which are generally only indicated by arrows or barbs) so I need some numerical data.

Googling has failed me. Anyone know where I can find this? Format is basically a non-issue.

Thanks.

posted by klanawa to Science & Nature (2 answers total)

I take it you want surface winds? Unfortunately, I don't know of any plots that represent wind direction as a numerical value, unless it's for a single observing station. Most gridded data I've come into contact with uses the u (east-west) and v (north-south) components, then using vector calculation, plots the directional values on the map as arrows or barbs, as you noted. You can find global daily plots here, but again, it's velocities with directional arrows plotted on top. Your best bet may be to contact the group that created the maps and see if you can get the raw files.

Sorry that isn't much help.
posted by weathergal at 8:01 PM on August 20, 2008

Try the University of Washington. The link goes to analyses and forecasts, presented as graphic loops. However, there's a lot of digging you can do on that site, and presumably you should be able to get the data that the plots are drawn from. At the very least, you can contact the folks who maintain that site and service.
posted by bumpkin at 11:40 PM on August 20, 2008