We evaluate the performance of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models in simulating the observed global terrestrial near‐surface wind speed (NSWS) and project its future changes under three different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Results show that the CESM2 has the best ability in reproducing the observed NSWS trends, although all models examined are generally not doing well. Based on projections of CESM2, the global NSWS will decrease from 2021 to 2100 under all three SSPs. The projected NSWS declines significantly over the north of 20°N, especially across North America, Europe, and the mid‐to‐high latitudes of Asia; meanwhile, it increases over the south of 20°N. Under SSP585, there would be more light‐windy days and fewer strong‐windy days than those under SSP245, which leads to a significant global NSWS decline. Robust hemispheric‐asymmetric changes in the NSWS could be due to the temperature gradient in the two hemispheres under global warming, with −1.2%, −3.5%, and −4.1% in the Northern Hemisphere, and 0.8%, 1.0%, and 1.5% in the Southern Hemisphere, for the near‐term (2021–2040), mid‐term (2041–2060), and long‐term (2081–2100), respectively.

Understanding future changes in global terrestrial near-surface wind speed (NSWS) in specific global warming level (GWL) is crucial for climate change adaption. Previous studies have projected the NSWS changes; however, the changes of NSWS with different GWLs have yet to be studied. In this paper, we employ the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model large ensembles to evaluate the contributions of different GWLs to the NSWS changes. The results show that the NSWS decreases over the Northern Hemisphere (NH) mid-to-high latitudes and increases over the Southern Hemisphere (SH) as the GWL increases by 1.5 °C–4.0 °C relative to the preindustrial period, and that these characteristics are more significant with the stronger GWL. The probability density of the NSWS shifts toward weak winds over NH and strong winds over SH between the current climate and the 4.0 °C GWL. Compared to 1.5 °C GWL, the NSWS decreases −0.066 m s⁻¹ over NH and increases +0.065 m s⁻¹ over SH with 4.0 °C GWL, especially for East Asia and South America, the decrease and increase are most significant, which reach −0.21 and +0.093 m s⁻¹, respectively. Changes in the temperature gradient induced by global warming could be the primary factor causing the interhemispheric asymmetry of future NSWS changes. Intensified global warming induces the reduction in Hadley, Ferrell, and Polar cells over NH and the strengthening of the Hadley cell over SH could be another determinant of asymmetry changes in NSWS between two hemispheres.

A global terrestrial stilling in recent decades has been reported, but the centennial-scale changes in global terrestrial near-surface wind speed (NSWS) and the potential contributing factors are yet to be revealed. Consequently, in this study, centennial-scale changes in global terrestrial NSWS are investigated based on Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 datasets, and that the potential factors causing those changes are detected. The results show that the global annual mean NSWS increased from 1850 to 1967 (+0.0045 m s⁻¹ decade⁻¹, p< 0.01), with significant increases in North America, Europe, Africa, and South Asia. However, the NSWS decreased from 1968 to 2014 (−0.0044 m s⁻¹ decade⁻¹, p < 0.01), significantly so in the mid-to-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The seasonal mean NSWS also increased before the 1960s and decreased thereafter. However, the NSWS over South America and most of Southern Africa increased during the study period. The changes in NSWS were caused mainly by changes in the number of strong windy days. The increase in NSWS from 1850 to 1967 could be attributed to internal variability, and the decrease in NSWS from 1968 to 2014 could be attributed to natural, aerosol, and greenhouse-gas forcings. However, internal variability acted mainly to increase the NSWS from 1968 to 2014, and so it is suggested that the contributions of external forcings to the global terrestrial stilling after the 1960s were considerable.

Investigations of variations and causes of near-surface wind speed (NWS) further understanding of the atmospheric changes and improve the ability of climate analysis and projections. NWS varies on multiple temporal scales; however, the centennial-scale variability in NWS and associated causes over China remains unknown. In this study, we employ the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) twentieth century reanalysis (ERA-20C) to study the centennial-scale changes in NWS from 1900–2010. Meanwhile, a forward stepwise regression algorithm is used to reveal the relationships between NWS and large-scale ocean-atmosphere circulations. The results show three unique periods in annual mean NWS over China from 1900–2010. The annual mean NWS displayed a decreasing trend of -0.87% decade^-1 and -11.75% decade^-1 from 1900–1925 and 1957–2010, respectively, which were caused by the decreases in the days with strong winds, with trends of -6.64 and -4.66 days decade^-1, respectively. The annual mean NWS showed an upward trend of 55.47% decade^-1 from 1926–1956, which was caused by increases in the days with moderate (0.43 days decade^-1) and strong winds (23.55 days decade^-1). The reconstructed wind speeds based on forward stepwise regression algorithm matched well with the original wind speeds; therefore, the decadal changes in NWS over China at centennial-scale were mainly induced by large-scale ocean-atmosphere circulations, with the total explanation power of 66%. The strongest explanation power was found in winter (74%), and the weakest explanation power was found in summer (46%).