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Land, sea and sky
Where the Wind Blows
The world's winds month by month, from the trade winds to the Roaring Forties, and 5,344 wind farms: 82% of onshore capacity stands on ground windier than its country's median.
This is an interactive data study by Dr Tristan Hotham, built from open data. The map runs in your browser: explore it, search for places and switch layers. The write-up explains the method and what the data shows, and the data and code are open for anyone to reuse.
More in Land, sea and sky
Where the Animals Are35.3 billion farm animals mapped every 10 km and counted since 1961: chickens have multiplied 7.1 times, and farm mammals outnumber people in 40 countries.
What the World GrowsThe leading crop on every 10 km square of the world's farmland, and sixty years of change: half the harvest of 34 crops grows on 6.4% of the world's land.
Signature Species60.9 million open wildlife records sorted into 118 vice counties, to find the species each one records far more often than the rest of Britain and Northern Ireland.
Darkest SkiesThe glow of the world's lights modelled from satellite images and checked against 6,653 sky meter readings: 52% of people, and 85% in the UK, cannot see the Milky Way from home.
Where Rain GoesEvery place in Britain, Ireland and the world followed downhill to the sea: 50% of Great Britain drains to the North Sea, and 24% of the world's land never reaches the sea at all.
How Wrong Is Your Clock?For 76% of the world's people the clock runs ahead of the sun: the gap everywhere, and why winter mornings in Galicia stay dark until after nine.