On trends in historical marine wind data

Long-period variations which include a trend toward strengthening winds over the last three decades have on the one hand been suggested to be real climatic changes, and on the other artifacts of the evolution of measuring techniques. An examination is presently conducted of individual ship reports from three regions with high data densities, in order to resolve this dispute. Even with corrections for instrumental effects, the pre-1950 winds appear weaker than post-1950 winds; the most probable explanation is the absence of universal sea state and Beaufort force standards prior to 1946.