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U.S. East Coast Lidar Measurements Show Offshore Wind Turbines Will Encounter Very Low Atmospheric Turbulence
Author(s) -
Bodini Nicola,
Lundquist Julie K.,
Kirincich Anthony
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl082636
Subject(s) - turbulence kinetic energy , environmental science , offshore wind power , turbulence , wind speed , submarine pipeline , lidar , meteorology , sea breeze , atmospheric sciences , wind power , maximum sustained wind , wind shear , wind gradient , geology , oceanography , geography , remote sensing , electrical engineering , engineering
Abstract The rapid growth of offshore wind energy requires accurate modeling of the wind resource, which can be depleted by wind farm wakes. Turbulence dissipation rate ( ϵ ) governs the accuracy of model predictions of hub‐height wind speed and the development and erosion of wakes. Here we assess the variability of turbulence kinetic energy and ϵ using 13 months of observations from a profiling lidar deployed on a platform off the Massachusetts coast. Offshore, ϵ is 2 orders of magnitude smaller than onshore, with a subtle diurnal cycle. Wind direction influences the annual cycle of turbulence, with larger values in winter when the wind flows from the land, and smaller values in summer, when the wind flows from open ocean. Because of the weak turbulence, wind plant wakes will be stronger and persist farther downwind in summer.