The surface roughness length parameter can be estimated from the gust factors (ratio of the peak wind gust to the mean wind speed measured over an interval of time) of wind records as formulated by Wieringa (1973). This method is advantageous in that it utilizes readily available wind records from ordinary weather stations if the specifications of the recording instruments are known.
At Texas Tech University, estimation of roughness lengths at the Wind Engineering Research Field laboratory (WERFL) have historically been calculated using the logarithmic wind profile. The roughness lengths obtained through this method have exhibited large scatter even between consecutive 15-minute duration runs from the same wind direction. This study compares results obtained from the application of the Wieringa formula on data collected at the WERFL to the wind profile estimates.