Wind‑Speed Variability from Tropopause to Surface

Dear Colleagues,

Tropospheric winds knit together the atmosphere from the tropopause’s jet‑stream corridors and the turbulence‑rich atmospheric surface layer. Variations in wind speed across this vertical column regulate moisture transport, cloud formation, boundary‑layer mixing, and the distribution of heat, aerosols, and pollutants. Resolving how wind speed changes with height and location is therefore crucial for accurate weather prediction, climate‑system understanding, renewable‑energy planning, and impact assessment. Despite major advances in observing systems, reanalyses, and high‑resolution modeling, key gaps remain in quantifying multiscale wind speed variability and its drivers, especially under accelerating climate change. This Special Issue gathers interdisciplinary studies that define, explain, and predict wind‑speed variability extending continuously from the tropopause down to Earth’s surface. By integrating theory, observation, and modeling, this collection will illuminate physical mechanisms, emerging trends, and practical consequences of vertical wind speed structure, fully supporting the journal’s mission to advance holistic climate and atmospheric science.

We invite original research articles, comprehensive reviews, technical notes, data descriptors, and perspective pieces that feature wind speed explicitly, including, but not limited to, the following: long‑term reanalysis and paleoclimate reconstructions of global and regional wind‑speed trends; extreme wind speed events, gust climatology, and probabilistic hazard assessment; mesoscale and large‑eddy simulations resolving vertical wind speed structure in jet streaks, convective downdrafts, and boundary‑layer turbulence; machine learning or data assimilation techniques for retrieving or gap‑filling satellite, radar, and lidar wind speed observations; the attribution of observed wind speed changes to anthropogenic forcing or natural modes of variability; the downscaling of CMIP6 wind speed projections for wind‑energy siting and infrastructure resilience; and the impacts of wind speed variability on ocean circulation, ecosystem dynamics, aviation operations, urban air quality, and socio‑economic risk. Submissions that apply novel tools, provide cross‑disciplinary perspectives, or locate present and future wind‑speed variability within a broader climatic context are especially welcome.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Meteorology.

Dr. Zhi-Bo Li
Prof. Dr. Paul Williams
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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