[Xophmeister]

The wind appears to be significantly stronger over open water. Is this just an artefact of the visualisation, or is it a genuine meteorological phenomenon?

I understand the temperature differences between sea and land will make it windier around coastal areas, but I had always thought that was a localised effect.

[Swizec]

You can play around with the altitude the visualisation is showing winds for. I'm assuming a lot of wind is slowed down by topographical features at lower altitudes. At 9000m and above there seems to be little difference between land and sea in the visualisation.