12-06-11 Wind and waves getting stronger and bigger

A study of the ocean shows it is getting to be a tougher place.It has long been something of a truism that the older we get the better things used to be.Summers were always long,fine and warm;everything was much cheaper and life was simpler,better and more fun.It is,of course,a lot of rubbish.Well,mostly.It appears when it comes to the conditions we experience when we head offshore,things really were better 20-odd years ago.According to a major study undertaken by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne,oceanic wind speeds and wave heights have increased significantly over the last quarter of a century.The results of the research programme,believed to be the most comprehensive of its kind undertaken,were recently published in the journal Science.It was conducted by former Swinburne University Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young,who this year became Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University,and Swinburne oceanographers Professor Alex Babanin and Dr Stefan Zieger.

Most climate-change studies focus on measurements or predictions of temperature over long periods of time.However,this study examined global changes of oceanic wind speed and wave height,both also important environmental indicators.This is because,as Professor Young explains,winds and waves control "the flux of energy" from the atmosphere to the ocean."Therefore,understanding whether their parameters are changing on a global scale is very important."The researchers analysed satellite data over a 23-year period from 1985 to 2008."We found a general global trend of increasing values of wind speed and,to a lesser degree,wave height over this period."The rate of increase for extreme events was most significant."