<p>Blue River, BC, Canada has an average windspeed of 0.7 m/s (2.6km/h)... <a href="http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_1981_2010_e.html?searchType=stnName&amp;txtStationName=blue+river&amp;searchMethod=contains&amp;txtCentralLatMin=0&amp;txtCentralLatSec=0&amp;txtCentralLongMin=0&amp;txtCentralLongSec=0&amp;stnID=1237&amp;dispBack=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_1981_2010_e.html?searchType=stnName&amp;txtStationName=blue+river&amp;searchMethod=contains&amp;txtCentralLatMin=0&amp;txtCentralLatSec=0&amp;txtCentralLongMin=0&amp;txtCentralLongSec=0&amp;stnID=1237&amp;dispBack=1</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-19T17:49:51.430Z
2018-03-19T17:49:51.430Z
user12470
<p>The main resistance that winds have to their movements comes from the topography and surface obstacles. Therefore, as a general rule the closer to the surface the less wind you will find. But I guess you are interested in the winds in areas clear of surface obstacles, otherwise the answer would a be a cave or a dense forest somewhere.</p>

<p>To figure out what is the calmest place on Earth wind-wise, we can use one of the <a href="https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sse/global.cgi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">global datasets</a> that NASA put together (initially to help with solar and wind energy planning). One of them is a <a href="https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/global/text/10yr_wspd50m" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10-year average (July 1983 - June 1993) of wind speed at 50 m above surface</a>, ignoring the effect of trees and other non-topographic obstacles at a resolution of one degree (roughly 111 km or less).
I just loaded that dataset and searched for the minimum (and maximum) values, this is how it looks:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/5MDPf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/5MDPf.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The minimum is not actually in Antarctica as your research suggested, but in the Amazon at longitude 68° west and latitude 0° (that's Brazil near the border with Colombia), with a mean wind speed of 1.55 m/s (5.6 km/h).</p>

<p>This is an enlarged version of the most relevant area overlaid with a world map for easier interpretation:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/5aqy0.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/5aqy0.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>In line to what was stated at the beginning, the maximum happens in an area were the lack of landmasses allow it to blow unimpeded around the world. And it happens at 60° W -52° S, reaching a mean wind speed of 12.62 m/s (45 km/h).</p>

<p>Note that this analysis is valid for broad areas. And of course individual weather stations at punctual locations can give different values. As for Antarctica, the winds there are mainly catabatic, therefore at the top of antarctic domes the average wind speed are very low. For example the average at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dome C is 10.1 km/h</a> and 9.4 km/h at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_F" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dome F</a>. However, those values are still bigger than what NASA's models suggest for the Amazonas.</p>

<p>I think the model I used here is reliable. As an exercise, you can see all the images that show up in a <a href="https://www.google.ca/search?q=global%20mean%20wind%20speed&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjK_cuHv8LZAhVN72MKHZn0AgAQ_AUICigB&amp;biw=2133&amp;bih=1036" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google search for "global mean wind speed"</a> and you see that most images show a similar pattern, where Antarctica doesn't seem to contain the calmest place.</p>

<p>The model used to produce these datasets is a reanalysis, it means it takes all the weather data of the past (weather stations and satellite data) and attempts to reconstruct how exactly was the weather over the whole word. A similar kind of model takes only past weather data and attempts to predict how will be the weather over the whole world. That's a much more difficult problem, prone to bigger errors but that's actually what all the weather forecast we see on TV are based upon. One of the best global forecast models is called <a href="http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php?branch=GFS" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GFS</a> (Global Forecast System) that is produced by NOAA's <a href="http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Environmental Modeling Center</a>.</p>

<p>To have a sense of how winds vary in different locations and altitudes you can explore the GFS  data using <a href="https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/winkel3=0.00,0.00,243/loc=-68.156,-3.052" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cameron Beccario's amazing vizualization tool</a>. There you can see the predicted global wind patterns all the way from the surface to more than 26 km of altitude (<a href="https://earth.nullschool.net/about.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here you can find a table with referential equivalences between pressure levels in hPa and altitudes</a>). Despite those are not multi-year averages, they are still very informative. Muze, the author of the question, pieced together a beautiful animated gif that show how the above mentioned visualization looks like for the elevation range of the jet streams at about 10 km of altitude (250 hPa):
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/X02KD.gif" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/X02KD.gif" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Ugbde.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Ugbde.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Finally, I have to note that I've interpreted "calmest" as the <strong>minimum mean wind speed</strong>. However, it would be sensible also to consider it as the place with the <strong>lowest maximum wind speed</strong> or some other metric, that would perhaps change the picture described above. And maybe using that metric one of the Antarctic domes could be the "calmest" place. But I won't extend the answer further with any possible interpretation for "calmest".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T15:35:32.077Z
Nice, but this doesn't really answer the question, which seems to be more about vertical differences or extremes in wind speed, rather than about average values. A place that has all year a constant $2\:\mathrm{\tfrac{m}s}$ blowing, smoothly increasing with altitude, is arguable calmer than a place that has almost no wind for much of the year, but strong turbulent gusts every now and then (which would hardly  influence the average).
leftaroundabout
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T17:36:24.760Z
@leftaroundabout I agree, but without a clear definition of what "calmest" means it is impossible to answer that question. Specially if it is meant in a vertically integrated sense. So, I decided to give it go with a simple, common sense meaning of "calmest". And it seems like it indeed answer the question.
Camilo Rada
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-01T08:43:06.593Z
A little bit of nitpicking here: The dataset you reference is listed as a `10-year Monthly & Annual Average (July 1983 - June 1993)` and not 22-year average.
Sirko
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-01T23:51:40.100Z
@Sirko You are right. I got confused with the timespan of other datasets in that list. I've corrected it.
Camilo Rada
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-08T17:34:25.360Z
@leftaroundabout I have checked the location and it is correct. Column by column it is good unless you have a better location?
Muze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-02-26T01:45:58.407Z
2018-09-23T10:30:20.600Z
2018-09-23T10:30:20.600Z
Camilo Rada
<p>I have done some research online, and I've found out that Antarctica has the calmest winds (lowest maximum wind speed) recorded on Earth. However, it is uninhabitable for human life. Other very calm areas are the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doldrums" rel="nofollow noreferrer">doldrums</a>, but they are over water. </p>

<p>Therefore, I would like to know: <strong>What is the calmest place on Earth that is on or over land other than Antarctica?</strong></p>

<p>PS: I'm also pondering <a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/13452/what-is-the-highest-chain-of-balloons-possible">this question about balloon chains</a>, so I'm also interested in the places with the calmest overall wind column all the way from the troposphere to the mesosphere.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T01:06:30.003Z
A cave. There is no wind in caves (mostly). And it’s on (in) land.
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T02:51:28.723Z
@Michael And if a cave isn't acceptable, I would say a large sinkhole.
Loren Pechtel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T02:55:26.277Z
@LorenPechtel a sinkhole wouldn't really fall under 'calm'... It's kind of a natural disaster-like thing.
Eevee
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T02:59:43.160Z
@Michael if you know the answer, please post it below :)
Eevee
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T03:12:22.260Z
@Imtherealsanic I'm not talking about one that just happened, but a natural one from some time ago.
Loren Pechtel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T10:29:14.387Z
@Imtherealsanic Look at a map of somewhere like Minnesota. You see all those round-ish lakes that aren't in valleys? Those are basically all sink-holes. Sink-holes are only a disastrous if they happen underneath you or something you care about.
David Richerby
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-19T22:07:39.230Z
@Muze Rolling back to that old revision again??? Why?
Camilo Rada
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-31T12:48:18.737Z
@Muze: The question as you've written it has grammatical errors and is somewhat confusing, so it needs edits.  I attempted a minimalist edit.  That said, I'd suggest you keep in mind the goal of StackExchange isn't to get as many views as possible, nor is it to tailor to search engine performance.  But instead it's to convey concise, useful, and readable questions and answers.  No one owns a question per se, but it supposed to be towards the benefit of us all.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-31T12:55:52.527Z
As noted in the comments to [your related Meta question](https://earthscience.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1629/why-does-an-older-revision-of-my-question-get-more-views), almost all views came from the hot questions list (on the right side of the page), which users of all SE networks see. [This Meta explains](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/60756/how-do-the-arbitrary-hotness-points-work-on-the-new-stack-exchange-home-page/61343#61343) that question hotness automatically decreases over time, and no questions is hot for >30 days.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-31T12:56:32.940Z
So let's get back to working together towards developing the best questions and answers possible!
JeopardyTempest
<meteorology><atmosphere><geophysics><climate><geography>
Where is the calmest place on Earth?
Muze
# Where is the calmest place on Earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-25)

I have done some research online, and I've found out that Antarctica has the calmest winds (lowest maximum wind speed) recorded on Earth. However, it is uninhabitable for human life. Other very calm areas are the [doldrums](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doldrums), but they are over water.

Therefore, I would like to know: **What is the calmest place on Earth that is on or over land other than Antarctica?**

PS: I'm also pondering [this question about balloon chains](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/13452/what-is-the-highest-chain-of-balloons-possible), so I'm also interested in the places with the calmest overall wind column all the way from the troposphere to the mesosphere.

**Tags:** meteorology, atmosphere, geophysics, climate, geography

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: A cave. There is no wind in caves (mostly). And it’s on (in) land.  
> **username_2**: @Michael And if a cave isn't acceptable, I would say a large sinkhole.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 a sinkhole wouldn't really fall under 'calm'... It's kind of a natural disaster-like thing.  
> **username_3**: @Michael if you know the answer, please post it below :)  
> **username_2**: @Imtherealsanic I'm not talking about one that just happened, but a natural one from some time ago.  
> **username_4**: @Imtherealsanic Look at a map of somewhere like Minnesota. You see all those round-ish lakes that aren't in valleys? Those are basically all sink-holes. Sink-holes are only a disastrous if they happen underneath you or something you care about.  
> **username_5**: @username_0 Rolling back to that old revision again??? Why?  
> **username_6**: @username_0: The question as you've written it has grammatical errors and is somewhat confusing, so it needs edits.  I attempted a minimalist edit.  That said, I'd suggest you keep in mind the goal of StackExchange isn't to get as many views as possible, nor is it to tailor to search engine performance.  But instead it's to convey concise, useful, and readable questions and answers.  No one owns a question per se, but it supposed to be towards the benefit of us all.  
> **username_6**: As noted in the comments to [your related Meta question](https://earthscience.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1629/why-does-an-older-revision-of-my-question-get-more-views), almost all views came from the hot questions list (on the right side of the page), which users of all SE networks see. [This Meta explains](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/60756/how-do-the-arbitrary-hotness-points-work-on-the-new-stack-exchange-home-page/61343#61343) that question hotness automatically decreases over time, and no questions is hot for >30 days.  
> **username_6**: So let's get back to working together towards developing the best questions and answers possible!  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-02-26. Score: 28 | Accepted answer

The main resistance that winds have to their movements comes from the topography and surface obstacles. Therefore, as a general rule the closer to the surface the less wind you will find. But I guess you are interested in the winds in areas clear of surface obstacles, otherwise the answer would a be a cave or a dense forest somewhere.

To figure out what is the calmest place on Earth wind-wise, we can use one of the [global datasets](https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sse/global.cgi) that NASA put together (initially to help with solar and wind energy planning). One of them is a [10-year average (July 1983 - June 1993) of wind speed at 50 m above surface](https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/global/text/10yr_wspd50m), ignoring the effect of trees and other non-topographic obstacles at a resolution of one degree (roughly 111 km or less).
I just loaded that dataset and searched for the minimum (and maximum) values, this is how it looks:
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/5MDPf.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/5MDPf.png)

The minimum is not actually in Antarctica as your research suggested, but in the Amazon at longitude 68° west and latitude 0° (that's Brazil near the border with Colombia), with a mean wind speed of 1.55 m/s (5.6 km/h).

This is an enlarged version of the most relevant area overlaid with a world map for easier interpretation:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/5aqy0.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/5aqy0.jpg)

In line to what was stated at the beginning, the maximum happens in an area were the lack of landmasses allow it to blow unimpeded around the world. And it happens at 60° W -52° S, reaching a mean wind speed of 12.62 m/s (45 km/h).

Note that this analysis is valid for broad areas. And of course individual weather stations at punctual locations can give different values. As for Antarctica, the winds there are mainly catabatic, therefore at the top of antarctic domes the average wind speed are very low. For example the average at [Dome C is 10.1 km/h](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_C) and 9.4 km/h at [Dome F](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_F). However, those values are still bigger than what NASA's models suggest for the Amazonas.

I think the model I used here is reliable. As an exercise, you can see all the images that show up in a [Google search for "global mean wind speed"](https://www.google.ca/search?q=global%20mean%20wind%20speed&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjK_cuHv8LZAhVN72MKHZn0AgAQ_AUICigB&biw=2133&bih=1036) and you see that most images show a similar pattern, where Antarctica doesn't seem to contain the calmest place.

The model used to produce these datasets is a reanalysis, it means it takes all the weather data of the past (weather stations and satellite data) and attempts to reconstruct how exactly was the weather over the whole word. A similar kind of model takes only past weather data and attempts to predict how will be the weather over the whole world. That's a much more difficult problem, prone to bigger errors but that's actually what all the weather forecast we see on TV are based upon. One of the best global forecast models is called [GFS](http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.php?branch=GFS) (Global Forecast System) that is produced by NOAA's [Environmental Modeling Center](http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/).

To have a sense of how winds vary in different locations and altitudes you can explore the GFS data using [Cameron Beccario's amazing vizualization tool](https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/winkel3=0.00,0.00,243/loc=-68.156,-3.052). There you can see the predicted global wind patterns all the way from the surface to more than 26 km of altitude ([here you can find a table with referential equivalences between pressure levels in hPa and altitudes](https://earth.nullschool.net/about.html)). Despite those are not multi-year averages, they are still very informative. username_0, the author of the question, pieced together a beautiful animated gif that show how the above mentioned visualization looks like for the elevation range of the jet streams at about 10 km of altitude (250 hPa):
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/X02KD.gif)](https://i.sstatic.net/X02KD.gif)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Ugbde.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/Ugbde.jpg)

Finally, I have to note that I've interpreted "calmest" as the **minimum mean wind speed**. However, it would be sensible also to consider it as the place with the **lowest maximum wind speed** or some other metric, that would perhaps change the picture described above. And maybe using that metric one of the Antarctic domes could be the "calmest" place. But I won't extend the answer further with any possible interpretation for "calmest".

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: Nice, but this doesn't really answer the question, which seems to be more about vertical differences or extremes in wind speed, rather than about average values. A place that has all year a constant $2\:\mathrm{\tfrac{m}s}$ blowing, smoothly increasing with altitude, is arguable calmer than a place that has almost no wind for much of the year, but strong turbulent gusts every now and then (which would hardly  influence the average).  
> **username_5**: @username_8 I agree, but without a clear definition of what "calmest" means it is impossible to answer that question. Specially if it is meant in a vertically integrated sense. So, I decided to give it go with a simple, common sense meaning of "calmest". And it seems like it indeed answer the question.  
> **username_9**: A little bit of nitpicking here: The dataset you reference is listed as a `10-year Monthly & Annual Average (July 1983 - June 1993)` and not 22-year average.  
> **username_5**: @username_9 You are right. I got confused with the timespan of other datasets in that list. I've corrected it.  
> **username_0**: @username_8 I have checked the location and it is correct. Column by column it is good unless you have a better location?  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-03-19. Score: 4

Blue River, BC, Canada has an average windspeed of 0.7 m/s (2.6km/h)... <http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_1981_2010_e.html?searchType=stnName&txtStationName=blue+river&searchMethod=contains&txtCentralLatMin=0&txtCentralLatSec=0&txtCentralLongMin=0&txtCentralLongSec=0&stnID=1237&dispBack=1>


---

