Extreme Wind Speeds in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic

The data of ERA5 global reanalysis, CARRA regional Arctic reanalysis (the eastern domain), and CCMP v3.1 satellite dataset are used to study extreme wind speeds over the Barents, Norwegian, and Greenland seas and adjacent land. It is shown that a probability distribution function is described by the Weibull distribution: the geography of parameters has been explored, and its patterns have been revealed. However, like in other cases of the analysis of extremes, the highest and rarest values significantly deviate from this baseline law: the differences can exceed 10 m/s. They are associated with cyclones developing in a cold season on the Arctic front, with mesoscale polar cyclones, as well as with local winds on the coast.