Variability and trends of near-surface wind speed over the Tibetan Plateau: The role played by the westerly and Asian monsoon

Near-surface wind speed exerts profound impacts on many environmental issues, while the long-term (≥60 years) trend and multidecadal variability in the wind speed and its underlying causes in global high-elevation and mountainous areas (e.g., Tibetan Plateau) remain largely unknown. Here, by examining homogenized wind speed data from 104 meteorological stations over the Tibetan Plateau for 1961‒2020 and ERA5 reanalysis datasets, we investigated the variability and long-term trend in the near-surface wind speed and revealed the role played by the westerly and Asian monsoon. The results show that the homogenized annual wind speed displays a decreasing trend (−0.091 m s−1 per decade, p < 0.05), with the strongest in spring (−0.131 m s−1 per decade, p < 0.05), and the weakest in autumn (−0.071 m s−1 per decade, p < 0.05). There is a distinct multidecadal variability of wind speed, which mani…