The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2): Observations and Model Evaluation

The second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) is a DOE and NOAA funded public-private partnership whose goal is to improve NWP model forecast skill for turbine-height winds in regions with complex terrain. WFIP2 partners include DOE National Laboratories (PNNL, ANL, NREL, LLNL), NOAA Laboratories (ESRL, ARL), Vaisala Inc., NCAR, the University of Notre Dame, University of Colorado, University of Washington, Sharply Focused, Lockheed Martin LLC, Siemens Inc., and the Bonneville Power Administration. A core element of WFIP2 is an 18-month field deployment located in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Columbia River Gorge and Columbia Basin in eastern Oregon and Washington states of the U.S., with observational field campaign spanning 2015-2017. The approach taken is to collect an extensive set of new meteorological observations, especially within the atmospheric boundary layer, use these to observe and understand relevant atmospheric processes, develop and test new model physical parameterization schemes, and ultimately transfer these improved models to NOAA/NWS operations and to the wider meteorological and wind energy communities. Observing systems that have been deployed for WFIP2 include:

• 11 wind profiling radars

• 17 sodars

• 5 wind profiling lidars

• 5 scanning lidars, including a long-range Wind Tracer lidar

• 4 microwave radiometers

• 10 microbarographs

• Several sites with full suites of radiation measurements

• ceilometer

• 28 sonic anemometers

• Surface met station networks

Numerical models that are being used for WFIP2 are WRF-based models including the NOAA RAP (Rapid Refresh) and High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), as well as the NAM and GFS. Science issues that are being addressed include the mix-out of stable cold pools, gap flow, mountain waves, mountain wakes, convective storm outflows, and boundary layer turbulence profiling. An overview of WFIP2 will be given with an emphasis on the suite of instrumentation deployed and their observational capabilities. Several case studies of boundary layer structure for interesting meteorological regimes will be presented, including comparisons with model forecasts.