Comparison of coastal wind and pressure trends over the tropical atlantic: 1946–1987

Strengthening of the Atlantic Trade Winds since 1946 has been documented by several workers. This is broadly consistent with changes in the atmospheric pressure patterns over the tropical Atlantic. Here ship‐recorded pressures are compared with sea‐level pressures recorded from 49 coastal sites in order to validate the trends in the pressure patterns. Good correlation is found between the two independent sets of pressure measurements; a comparison of trends reveals statistically significant agreement along the African coast but disagreement in the western Atlantic and Caribbean. Island stations generally show poorer correlation with adjacent marine pressures than do continental stations. A degree of support for the observed marine trends is therefore provided by this analysis but it appears that, particularly for islands, marine and adjacent land areas are not always strongly coupled meteorologically.