LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

New atlas could help wind energy sweep across Great Lakes 

Credit:  By Blaine Friedlander | Cornell Chronicle | Sept. 8, 2015 | cornell.edu ~~

By compiling meteorological wind data – derived from several sources – Cornell University and the Technical University of Denmark scientists have assembled the first full observational wind atlas of the Great Lakes. The atlas bolsters the chances for developing wind energy in the region.

Accurate wind data lives in a disjointed and disjunctive world. The researchers have meshed these data to create a high-definition atlas, using information gathered from weather stations, buoys, QuikSCAT (a NASA satellite that collects wind direction and speed data over water bodies) and satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar, or SAR.

“The techniques that we have employed optimize the strengths of each measurement type, allowing a longtime series of data to be combined with the exceptional spatial resolution of the satellites – corrected for gaps in data due to ice cover in the winter months – using a new algorithm,” said lead author Paula Doubrawa, a Cornell doctoral candidate in the field of engineering.

Doubrawa, her adviser Rebecca Barthelmie, professor of engineering, and others published, “Satellite winds as a tool for offshore wind resource assessment: The Great Lakes Wind Atlas” in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment (October 2015.)

For years, scientists, economists and environmentalists have touted the potential for wind-energy development in the Great Lakes region, as it features a large expanse of exploitable wind resources. The lakes – touching eight states and two Canadian provinces – extend over 150,000 square miles, creating about 84 percent of North America’s surface freshwater and 21 percent of Earth’s total surface freshwater.

Wind resources are difficult to quantify accurately, Doubrawa said. For example, surface ice formation during winter months precludes retrieval of wind speeds from satellites and warrants removal of buoys. Additionally, offshore observations are sparse, and sometimes wind data derived from satellite scatterometers (microwave radar sensors) and SAR may not be available either in time or at the required location

“The compilation and analysis of these datasets is very time-consuming – and now the work has been done,” said Barthelmie, a faculty fellow in Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. “Assembling this atlas and this kind of work helps agencies that plan wind farms or manage where wind farms will be located by identifying optimal locations.”

Said Barthelmie: “These maps can be integrated with other GIS-type databases – for example, mapping shipping lanes or recreational areas – to help plan where wind farms might be located as a balance between wind resource and existing constraints.”

In addition to Barthelmie and Doubrawa, the research is co-authored by Cornell’s Sara C. Pryor, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences; and Charlotte B. Hasager, Merete Badger and Ioanna Karagali of the Technical University of Denmark.

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Source:  By Blaine Friedlander | Cornell Chronicle | Sept. 8, 2015 | cornell.edu

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon