Characterizing model uncertainties in simulated coast-to-offshore wind over the northeast U.S. using multi-platform measurements from the TCAP field campaign

Journal Article · Wed Nov 27 23:00:00 EST 2024 · Renewable Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.122022· OSTI ID:2480264

Tai, Sheng-Lun ^[1]; Gaudet, Brian ^[1]; Feng, Sha ^[1]; Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra ^[1]; Berg, Larry K. ^[1]; Fast, Jerome D. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are widely used to provide estimates of the offshore wind energy resource owing to their large spatial coverage compared to available observations. Nevertheless, spatiotemporal distribution of model biases is highly dependent on factors including model configuration, location, and the interplay of multi-scale physical processes. Here, in this study, we focus on the characterization of model uncertainties in simulated coast-to-offshore winds over the northeast U.S., by varying sea surface temperature (SST) forcings, surface layer (SL) and planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations, as well as identifying biases that may be directly passed from initial and boundary conditions. Multiple measurements, including aircraft data collected during the U.S. Department of Energy's Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) experiment, are used to constrain the model results and facilitate quantitative comparisons. Our analysis indicates while SST forcing has notable impacts on simulated air temperature and moisture within PBL, the modeled winds are in general more sensitive to the choices of SL and PBL physics than to SST. The model’s forcing data not only controls the vertical dependence of wind speed errors, but also alters regional variability in wind speed’s spatial correlation. Bias comparisons between ERA5 reanalysis and ensemble simulations revealed significant similarity, particularly in wind speed biases during winter, underscoring their dependency on initial and boundary conditions. Coastal and offshore near-surface wind speed biases tend to exhibit much higher similarity in winter than in summer due to the presence of much stronger and more persistent synoptic wind conditions. This study highlights the importance of accurate atmospheric forcing and parameterization choices in improving wind forecasts and suggests the potential for extrapolating coastal wind biases to offshore locations, aiding wind energy forecasting and informing the Wind Forecast Improvement Project-3 (WFIP3).

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 2480264
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA--202963
• Journal Information: Renewable Energy, Journal Name: Renewable Energy Vol. 239; ISSN 0960-1481
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
Marine atmospheric boundary layer
Model uncertainty quantification
Numerical weather prediction
Offshore wind
Sea surface temperature