INVESTIGATION OF WRF SIMULATED HORIZONTAL WIND SPEED GRADIENT USING SCANNING LIDAR MEASUREMENT

Abstract

For offshore wind resource assessment in nearshore waters with mesoscale model downscaling, it is important to evaluate the model-simulated horizontal wind speed gradient at a wind turbine hub height. This study investigates the accuracy of horizontal wind speed gradient simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) using the observation from dual scanning lidar measurements on the coast of Kamisu in Japan. The accuracy validation shows that WRF underestimates horizontal wind speed gradient during the target period. In term of wind direction, the underestimation is more frequently found when wind blows from land sectors. It is moreover found that this underestimation cannot be improved by only changing the planetary boundary layer schemes in the WRF simulation.