The hourly observational data from 6 regular meteorological stations and 2 island stations in Hainan Island are used to statistically analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of near-surface wind over the coastal areas of the Hainan Island during 2012,indexes including the distribution of wind speed and its daily change,and wind direction frequency.The results show that the yearly averaged wind speed over coastal areas is from 1.8 m/s to 5.7 m/s,with the highest wind speed appearing in Sanya,especially in winter with possible wind speed of 6.5 m/s.Generally,the highest wind speed usually appears in winter or spring over most coastal stations,while the weakest wind appears in summer;the wind speed is higher in southern than in northern areas,and higher in western than in eastern coastal areas.The diurnal evolution of wind speed exhibits the canonical pattern,with high speed in daytime and low speed in nighttime;however,Sanya exhibits the opposite pattern in wind speed as a result of its unique topography and vegetation.The dominant wind direction is south or southwest in summer and north or northeast in winter,which is similar to the pattern of South China Sea Monsoon.The seasonal variability of prevailing wind is significant over southern coastal areas,followed by eastern and western regions,and not obvious over northern coastal areas.