92nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Wednesday, 25 January 2012: 9:45 AM
A Multi-Season Data Set for Evaluating Predictions of Hub-Height Winds
Room 345 (New Orleans Convention Center )
Larry K. Berg, PNNL, Richland, WA; and J. Fast, R. Newsom, M. Pekour, M. T. Stoelinga, and C. A. Finley

In general, there is a lack of publically available wind measurements at the hub-height of wind turbines. The Columbia Basin Wind Energy Study (CBWES) is a Department of Energy supported study that was designed to help address this shortcoming. CBWES was conducted from the fall of 2011 through the fall of 2012 near an operating wind farm in northeastern Oregon. Instruments deployed during the study included a 915 MHz radar wind profiler, Doppler sodar, as well as ultrasonic and propeller and vane anemometers. Data from these remote sensing and in situ instruments have been combined to form a single best estimate of the wind profile over the site as a function of time. This data product is then used in two ways: to evaluate simulations produced using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for periods of interest, with a strong focus on wind ramp events that have occurred over the site, and to evaluate retrievals of horizontal winds from data collected at the NEXRAD in Pendleton, Oregon.

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