OF

A comprehensive analysis of regional near-surface wind speed characteristics is presented based on data from 9 coastal sites, extending over periods of 20 to 39 years, with a mean duration of 33 years. Six terrestrial data sets were ob-tained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), and 3 additional buoy data sets came from the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). Data sets contain either sub-hourly or hourly wind speed averages from near-surface, single height anemometers. Extensive quality checks were performed to account for anemometer height changes, missing data, and flagged data. Analyses focus on long-term temporal trends. Monthly, seasonal, and interan-nual long-term trends are analyzed utilizing low-order Gaussian moments and the Ordinary Linear Regression (OLR) technique; data autocorrelation is accounted for and additional statistical analysis is performed herein. Four sites exhibit statis-tically significant negative wind speed trends, 2 sites show statistically significant increased trends, and no trend is observed at 3 sites. Further data analyses includ