RSEFWE

Role of Surface Energy Fluxes for Wind Energy

13 November 2012 - 8 July 2013

Lead Scientist: Sonia Wharton

Observatory: SGP (Southern Great Plains)

SGP ARM provides an ideal test site to study the impact of the subsurface-surface-energy balance on observed and modeled wind speed and turbulence profiles at wind turbine rotor disk height to improve wind forecasting. We utilized the site's observations of soil moisture and soil temperature, air temperature , relative humidity, net radiation, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) as well ground heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux (i.e., evapotranspiration) from the flux towers to better understand the role of these processes on boundary layer flow and to validate subsurface-surface-atmospheric energy exchange processes in WRF. We continued to maintain a WindCube LIDAR system (installed for the "In-Situ & Remote Sensing of Turbulence Experiment" project in November 2012) to obtain high-resolution, 10-minute averages of wind speed, direction and turbulence from 40 m to 200 m to characterize turbine rotor disk air flow. The energy flux and surface meteorology observations will be used for understanding the physics that govern PBL behavior near the surface (up to 200 m) and for validating the WRF forecasting model and testing the model improvements from using a variety of land surface models in WRF, including but not limited to: (1) NOAH, (2) RUC, (3)PX, (4) thermal diffusion, and (5) ACASA. ACASA, the Advanced Canopy-Atmosphere-Soil Algorithm model is the most sophisticated of the 5 model choices and includes 15 subsurface layers, 20 canopy and surface layers, and 3rd order turbulence parameterization. The expected final project is a technical report submitted to DOE and the LIDAR dataset.