Where can we find wind and weather data?

Windy_Skies · December 12, 2018, 9:58pm

What sources do you like for historic and real-time weather and wind data?

The specific info I would be looking for in the sources would be how much of the time during the different months the wind is blowing at 10 m/s at ground level, and 100 meters up, in Europe.

And where I could get accurate real-time data, with a high resolution.

I don’t know where this topic should go.

PierreB · December 12, 2018, 10:23pm

Here is Cristina Archer’s publications: http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/our-people/profiles/carcher/my-publications. Cristina Archer is involved in airborne wind energy.
See also another view with Lee Miller’s and Alex Kleidon’s publications, from Max Planck Institute, on https://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/index.php/BTM/LeeMiller.
Also https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic/loc=37.493,32.278 where one clicks in any part to know the wind speed, but without data about wind in altitude.

Tom · December 12, 2018, 10:23pm

Resource Analysis- would put it in Industry and Market Analysis.

Tom · December 12, 2018, 10:28pm

A group involving Roland Schmehl will publish on the topic.

In the github docs for this there were good sources. Needs some digging to get to them.

Windy_Skies · December 12, 2018, 10:56pm

Thanks @PierreB, @Tom ! I’ll look through these.

tallakt · December 13, 2018, 6:36am

I believe windfinder has a means to see current wind at different altitudes

Rodread · December 16, 2018, 12:09am

Oh I like that site.
It says i’m full o crap… on the day of my recent test it’s windy like 12m/s (that was my upper gust I claimed)

Windy was forecasting similar (I think- ish)

Tom · December 16, 2018, 1:57pm

I don’t think the tool is that exact.

Windy_Skies · June 17, 2019, 12:45pm

Windy_Skies · June 17, 2019, 1:54pm

(…)

Rethinking the status quo
Traditional methods for assessing and analyzing wind behavior prior to installing turbines have been based on point measurements. Monitors attached to individual masts gather highly localized data, which is then modeled to give an estimate on what is happening in wider wind farm area.

Developers and operators use this extrapolated information as the basis of wind farm development. Make it possible 2 The Optimizer service from Wood changes all that. The electronic sheep is in fact a host for advanced LiDAR technology. It is placed at an optimal location and left for three to six-month months to capture wind behavior across a whole spectrum of conditions. The use of lasers to measure airflow enables it to evaluate a much greater volume of wind flow across a much larger area – up to a radius of 4km. That information can then be correlated with actual wind farm performance.

(…)

kitefreak · June 17, 2019, 6:10pm

METAR Data parsing and processing is kPower’s conceptual approach to mesoscale AWES weather automation, as explored over many years on the Old Forum.

katieschaef · June 18, 2019, 6:49pm

We use NREL website when preparing reports or doing research. For day-to-day current wind conditions, we use two apps that have been quite reliable. They are WindAlert and WindFinder Pro. We always cross check with the local weather forecast too. WindAlert will show up to 6 months historical data.

Windy_Skies · December 20, 2019, 1:42am

https://www.enviroware.com/METAR/METAR_WindRoses_2018_maps.html

Windy_Skies · December 23, 2019, 9:19pm

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/a874f843-c137-11e8-9893-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

Page 70:

Stability
Recent measurements have shown that the wind speed on some sites does not increase significantly with height for large parts of the day and that wind speeds in low heights may already be optimal [163]. In the described cases, only during night time was the wind speed higher at higher altitude than at the height of conventional wind turbines [164]. For AWES to make optimal use of the available resource this means they need to be capable to work in different heights, depending on the available resource. When considering arrays of AWES, this may provide the opportunity to have different rows of AWES operate at different heights during daytime and night time, providing smoother use of the tether. However, the stability varies from region to region and site to site, requiring detailed information on the specific site to choose the right technology, site layout and operating strategy.

163 Gambier, Bastigkeit and Nippold, supra note 104.
164 Ibid.

104 Bechtle, P., M. Schelbergen, R. Schmehl, U. Zillmann and S. Watson (2018), Airborne Wind Energy Resource Analysis,
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (submitted), [1808.07718] Airborne Wind Energy Resource Analysis

Gambier [23] and Gambier et al. [24] present a detailed modeling framework for AWE system designs and combine this with COSMO-EU and NCEP/DOE model data for 12 locations in and around Germany [23] as well as LIDAR measurements up to 1200 m at two locations in Germany [24]. The measurements reveal strong wind shear between 200 and 1000 m altitude during night time, while during the day the wind shear is small. Lunney et al. [25] present a techno-economic study of airborne wind energy harvesting in Ireland. The high-altitude wind resource was modeled on the basis of NCEP/DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2) data which provides an updated 6-hourly global analysis of atmospheric variables such as wind and temperature with143×73 grid points in the horizontal with spacing of 2.5◦ranging from the year 1979 to the present. Yip et al. [26] use MERRA-2 data to identify possible deployment areas for AWE in the Middle East, computing also the optimal height at which the systems would operate. Emeis[6] discusses AWE systems in his outlook chapter. Only very recently the Dutch Offshore WindAtlas (DOWA) has been published, consisting of 10 years of hourly data and covering the North Sea Region on a 2.5×2.5 km grid in 17 altitude levels up to 600 m. The data has been obtained by downscaling the ERA5 reanalysis using a regional numerical weather model together with additional satellite and aircraft measurements [27].

[24] Gambier A, Bastigkeit I, Nippold E. Projekt OnKites II : Untersuchung zu den Potentialen von Flugwindener-gieanlagen (FWEA) Phase II. Final Project Report; Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy SystemTechnology IWES; Bremerhaven, Germany; 2017. doi:10.2314/GBV:1009915452. Projekt OnKites II : Untersuchung zu den Potentialen von Flugwindenergieanlagen (FWEA) Phase II : Abschlussbericht (ausführliche Darstellung)