A high resolution global wind atlas - improving estimation of world wind resources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Badger, Jake; Ejsing Jørgensen, Hans

2011-01-01

to population centres, electrical transmission grids, terrain types, and protected land areas are important parts of the resource assessment downstream of the generation of wind climate statistics. Related to these issues of integration are the temporal characteristics and spatial correlation of the wind...... resources. These aspects will also be addressed by the Global Wind Atlas. The Global Wind Atlas, through a transparent methodology, will provide a unified, high resolution, and public domain dataset of wind energy resources for the whole world. The wind atlas data will be the most appropriate wind resource...

A local-circulation model for Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Masse, B.

1986-04-01

A new computational model for the aerodynamics of the vertical-axis wind turbine is presented. Based on the local-circulation method generalized for curved blades, combined with a wake model for the vertical-axis wind turbine, it differs markedly from current models based on variations in the streamtube momentum and vortex models using the lifting-line theory. A computer code has been developed to calculate the loads and performance of the Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine. The results show good agreement with experimental data and compare well with other methods.

Global wind power development: Economics and policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timilsina, Govinda R.; Cornelis van Kooten, G.; Narbel, Patrick A.

2013-01-01

Existing literature indicates that theoretically, the earth's wind energy supply potential significantly exceeds global energy demand. Yet, only 2–3% of global electricity demand is currently derived from wind power despite 27% annual growth in wind generating capacity over the last 17 years. More than 95% of total current wind power capacity is installed in the developed countries plus China and India. Our analysis shows that the economic competitiveness of wind power varies at wider range across countries or locations. A climate change damage cost of US$20/tCO 2 imposed to fossil fuels would make onshore wind competitive to all fossil fuels for power generation; however, the same would not happen to offshore wind, with few exceptions, even if the damage cost is increased to US$100/tCO 2 . To overcome a large number of technical, financial, institutional, market and other barriers to wind power, many countries have employed various policy instruments, including capital subsidies, tax incentives, tradable energy certificates, feed-in tariffs, grid access guarantees and mandatory standards. Besides, climate change mitigation policies, such as the Clean Development Mechanism, have played a pivotal role in promoting wind power. Despite these policies, intermittency, the main technical constraint, could remain as the major challenge to the future growth of wind power. - Highlights: • Global wind energy potential is enormous, yet the wind energy contribution is very small. • Existing policies are boosting development of wind power. • Costs of wind energy are higher than cost of fossil-based energies. • Reasonable premiums for climate change mitigation substantially promote wind power. • Intermittency is the key challenge to future development of wind power

Earth aeolian wind streaks: Comparison to wind data from model and stations

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen-Zada, A. L.; Maman, S.; Blumberg, D. G.

2017-05-01

Wind streak is a collective term for a variety of aeolian features that display distinctive albedo surface patterns. Wind streaks have been used to map near-surface winds and to estimate atmospheric circulation patterns on Mars and Venus. However, because wind streaks have been studied mostly on Mars and Venus, much of the knowledge regarding the mechanism and time frame of their formation and their relationship to the atmospheric circulation cannot be verified. This study aims to validate previous studies' results by a comparison of real and modeled wind data with wind streak orientations as measured from remote-sensing images. Orientations of Earth wind streaks were statistically correlated to resultant drift direction (RDD) values calculated from reanalysis and wind data from 621 weather stations. The results showed good agreement between wind streak orientations and reanalysis RDD (r = 0.78). A moderate correlation was found between the wind streak orientations and the weather station data (r = 0.47); a similar trend was revealed on a regional scale when the analysis was performed by continent, with r ranging from 0.641 in North America to 0.922 in Antarctica. At sites where wind streak orientations did not correspond to the RDDs (i.e., a difference of 45°), seasonal and diurnal variations in the wind flow were found to be responsible for deviation from the global pattern. The study thus confirms that Earth wind streaks were formed by the present wind regime and they are indeed indicative of the long-term prevailing wind direction on global and regional scales.

Three-pattern decomposition of global atmospheric circulation: part II—dynamical equations of horizontal, meridional and zonal circulations

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Shujuan; Cheng, Jianbo; Xu, Ming; Chou, Jifan

2018-04-01

The three-pattern decomposition of global atmospheric circulation (TPDGAC) partitions three-dimensional (3D) atmospheric circulation into horizontal, meridional and zonal components to study the 3D structures of global atmospheric circulation. This paper incorporates the three-pattern decomposition model (TPDM) into primitive equations of atmospheric dynamics and establishes a new set of dynamical equations of the horizontal, meridional and zonal circulations in which the operator properties are studied and energy conservation laws are preserved, as in the primitive equations. The physical significance of the newly established equations is demonstrated. Our findings reveal that the new equations are essentially the 3D vorticity equations of atmosphere and that the time evolution rules of the horizontal, meridional and zonal circulations can be described from the perspective of 3D vorticity evolution. The new set of dynamical equations includes decomposed expressions that can be used to explore the source terms of large-scale atmospheric circulation variations. A simplified model is presented to demonstrate the potential applications of the new equations for studying the dynamics of the Rossby, Hadley and Walker circulations. The model shows that the horizontal air temperature anomaly gradient (ATAG) induces changes in meridional and zonal circulations and promotes the baroclinic evolution of the horizontal circulation. The simplified model also indicates that the absolute vorticity of the horizontal circulation is not conserved, and its changes can be described by changes in the vertical vorticities of the meridional and zonal circulations. Moreover, the thermodynamic equation shows that the induced meridional and zonal circulations and advection transport by the horizontal circulation in turn cause a redistribution of the air temperature. The simplified model reveals the fundamental rules between the evolution of the air temperature and the horizontal, meridional

Global wind power potential: Physical and technological limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro, Carlos de; Mediavilla, Margarita; Miguel, Luis Javier; Frechoso, Fernando

2011-01-01

This paper is focused on a new methodology for the global assessment of wind power potential. Most of the previous works on the global assessment of the technological potential of wind power have used bottom-up methodologies (e.g. ). Economic, ecological and other assessments have been developed, based on these technological capacities. However, this paper tries to show that the reported regional and global technological potential are flawed because they do not conserve the energetic balance on Earth, violating the first principle of energy conservation (). We propose a top-down approach, such as that in , to evaluate the physical-geographical potential and, for the first time, to evaluate the global technological wind power potential, while acknowledging energy conservation. The results give roughly 1 TW for the top limit of the future electrical potential of wind energy. This value is much lower than previous estimates and even lower than economic and realizable potentials published for the mid-century (e.g. ). - Highlights: → Reported wind power potentials are flawed because they violate energy conservation. → For the first time, it is evaluated the technological wind power potential with a top-down approach. → Our results show 1 TWe for the limit of wind power energy, which is much lower than previous estimates.

Statistics-Based Compression of Global Wind Fields

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong

2017-02-07

Wind has the potential to make a significant contribution to future energy resources. Locating the sources of this renewable energy on a global scale is however extremely challenging, given the difficulty to store very large data sets generated by modern computer models. We propose a statistical model that aims at reproducing the data-generating mechanism of an ensemble of runs via a Stochastic Generator (SG) of global annual wind data. We introduce an evolutionary spectrum approach with spatially varying parameters based on large-scale geographical descriptors such as altitude to better account for different regimes across the Earth\\'s orography. We consider a multi-step conditional likelihood approach to estimate the parameters that explicitly accounts for nonstationary features while also balancing memory storage and distributed computation. We apply the proposed model to more than 18 million points of yearly global wind speed. The proposed SG requires orders of magnitude less storage for generating surrogate ensemble members from wind than does creating additional wind fields from the climate model, even if an effective lossy data compression algorithm is applied to the simulation output.

Statistics-Based Compression of Global Wind Fields

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong; Castruccio, Stefano; Crippa, Paola; Genton, Marc G.

2017-01-01

Wind has the potential to make a significant contribution to future energy resources. Locating the sources of this renewable energy on a global scale is however extremely challenging, given the difficulty to store very large data sets generated by modern computer models. We propose a statistical model that aims at reproducing the data-generating mechanism of an ensemble of runs via a Stochastic Generator (SG) of global annual wind data. We introduce an evolutionary spectrum approach with spatially varying parameters based on large-scale geographical descriptors such as altitude to better account for different regimes across the Earth's orography. We consider a multi-step conditional likelihood approach to estimate the parameters that explicitly accounts for nonstationary features while also balancing memory storage and distributed computation. We apply the proposed model to more than 18 million points of yearly global wind speed. The proposed SG requires orders of magnitude less storage for generating surrogate ensemble members from wind than does creating additional wind fields from the climate model, even if an effective lossy data compression algorithm is applied to the simulation output.

Global wind energy outlook 2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-10-01

An overview is given of the global potential of wind power up to 2050. This potential could play a key part in achieving a decline in emissions by 2020, which the IPCC indicates is necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. By 2020, wind power could save as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year, which would add up to over 10 billion tonnes in this timeframe. The report also explains how wind energy can provide up to 30% of the word's electricity by the middle of the century. More importantly, wind power could save as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year by 2020. GWEO 2008 explores three different scenarios for wind power: a Reference scenario based on figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA); a Moderate version which assumes that current targets for renewable energy are successful; and an Advanced Scenario which assumes that all policy options in favour of renewables have been adopted. These are then set against two demand projections for global energy demand. Wind energy has already become a mainstream power generation source in many regions around the world, and it is being deployed in over 70 countries. In addition to environmental benefits, wind energy also provides a sustainable answer to increasing concerns about security of energy supply and volatile fossil fuel prices. Moreover, wind energy is becoming a substantial factor in economic development, providing more than 350,000 'green collar' jobs today both in direct and indirect employment. By 2020, this figure is projected to increase to over 2 million

U.S. Hail Frequency and the Global Wind Oscillation

Science.gov (United States)

Gensini, Vittorio A.; Allen, John T.

2018-02-01

Changes in Earth relative atmospheric angular momentum can be described by an index known as the Global Wind Oscillation. This global index accounts for changes in Earth's atmospheric budget of relative angular momentum through interactions of tropical convection anomalies, extratropical dynamics, and engagement of surface torques (e.g., friction and mountain). It is shown herein that U.S. hail events are more (less) likely to occur in low (high) atmospheric angular momentum base states when excluding weak Global Wind Oscillation days, with the strongest relationships found in the boreal spring and fall. Severe, significant severe, and giant hail events are more likely to occur during Global Wind Oscillation phases 8, 1, 2, and 3 during the peak of U.S. severe weather season. Lower frequencies of hail events are generally found in Global Wind Oscillation phases 4-7 but vary based on Global Wind Oscillation amplitude and month. In addition, probabilistic anomalies of atmospheric ingredients supportive of hail producing supercell thunderstorms closely mimic locations of reported hail frequency, helping to corroborate report results.

Response of an ocean general circulation model to wind and ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The stretched-coordinate ocean general circulation model has been designed to study the observed variability due to wind and thermodynamic forcings. The model domain extends from 60°N to 60°S and cyclically continuous in the longitudinal direction. The horizontal resolution is 5° × 5° and 9 discrete vertical levels.

Three-pattern decomposition of global atmospheric circulation: part I—decomposition model and theorems

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Shujuan; Chou, Jifan; Cheng, Jianbo

2018-04-01

In order to study the interactions between the atmospheric circulations at the middle-high and low latitudes from the global perspective, the authors proposed the mathematical definition of three-pattern circulations, i.e., horizontal, meridional and zonal circulations with which the actual atmospheric circulation is expanded. This novel decomposition method is proved to accurately describe the actual atmospheric circulation dynamics. The authors used the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data to calculate the climate characteristics of those three-pattern circulations, and found that the decomposition model agreed with the observed results. Further dynamical analysis indicates that the decomposition model is more accurate to capture the major features of global three dimensional atmospheric motions, compared to the traditional definitions of Rossby wave, Hadley circulation and Walker circulation. The decomposition model for the first time realized the decomposition of global atmospheric circulation using three orthogonal circulations within the horizontal, meridional and zonal planes, offering new opportunities to study the large-scale interactions between the middle-high latitudes and low latitudes circulations.

The Global Monsoon as Seen through the Divergent Atmospheric Circulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Trenberth, Kevin E.; Stepaniak, David P.; Caron, Julie M.

2000-11-01

A comprehensive description is given of the global monsoon as seen through the large-scale overturning in the atmosphere that changes with the seasons, and it provides a basis for delimiting the monsoon regions of the world. The analysis focuses on the mean annual cycle of the divergent winds and associated vertical motions, as given by the monthly mean fields for 1979-93 reanalyses from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP-NCAR) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which are able to reproduce the dominant modes. A complex empirical orthogonal function analysis of the divergent circulation brings out two dominant modes with essentially the same vertical structures in all months of the year. The first mode, which depicts the global monsoon, has a simple vertical structure with a maximum in vertical motion at about 400 mb, divergence in the upper troposphere that is strongest at 150 mb and decays to zero amplitude above 70 mb, and convergence in the lower troposphere with a maximum at 925 mb (ECMWF) or 850 mb (NCEP). However, this mode has a rich three-dimensional spatial structure that evolves with the seasons. It accounts for 60% of the annual cycle variance of the divergent mass circulation and dominates the Hadley circulation as well as three overturning transverse cells. These include the Pacific Walker circulation; an Americas-Atlantic Walker circulation, both of which comprise rising motion in the west and sinking in the east; and a transverse cell over Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Indian Ocean that has rising motion in the east and sinking toward the west. These exist year-round but migrate and evolve considerably with the seasons and have about a third to half of the mass flux of the peak Hadley cell. The annual cycle of the two Hadley cells reveals peak strength in early February and early August in both reanalyses.A second monsoon mode, which accounts for

Influence of glacial ice sheets on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation through surface wind change

Science.gov (United States)

Sherriff-Tadano, Sam; Abe-Ouchi, Ayako; Yoshimori, Masakazu; Oka, Akira; Chan, Wing-Le

2018-04-01

Coupled modeling studies have recently shown that the existence of the glacial ice sheets intensifies the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). However, most models show a strong AMOC in their simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which is biased compared to reconstructions that indicate both a weaker and stronger AMOC during the LGM. Therefore, a detailed investigation of the mechanism behind this intensification of the AMOC is important for a better understanding of the glacial climate and the LGM AMOC. Here, various numerical simulations are conducted to focus on the effect of wind changes due to glacial ice sheets on the AMOC and the crucial region where the wind modifies the AMOC. First, from atmospheric general circulation model experiments, the effect of glacial ice sheets on the surface wind is evaluated. Second, from ocean general circulation model experiments, the influence of the wind stress change on the AMOC is evaluated by applying wind stress anomalies regionally or at different magnitudes as a boundary condition. These experiments demonstrate that glacial ice sheets intensify the AMOC through an increase in the wind stress at the North Atlantic mid-latitudes, which is induced by the North American ice sheet. This intensification of the AMOC is caused by the increased oceanic horizontal and vertical transport of salt, while the change in sea ice transport has an opposite, though minor, effect. Experiments further show that the Eurasian ice sheet intensifies the AMOC by directly affecting the deep-water formation in the Norwegian Sea.

Wind Speed Retrieval by Means of X-Band Cosmo-Skymed SAR Data with Application to Coastel Circulation Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Montuori, Antonio; de Ruggiero, Paola; Migliaccio, Maurizio; Pierini, Stefano

2012-03-01

In this paper, the capabilities of X-band COSMOSkyMed SAR data are investigated for both wind speed estimation purposes and for the improvement of coastal circulation modeling. The data set consists of 60 X-band Level 1B Multi-Look Ground Detected ScanSAR HugeRegion COSMO-SkyMed SAR data, gathered in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea during the summer and winter seasons of 2010. Wind speed is estimated by means of a SAR wind speed retrieval based on the azimuth cut-off procedure. Wind direction is provided by means of a SAR retrieval approach based on Discrete Wavelet Transform. After comparison with the provided ground truth data, SAR-derived wind fields and ECMWF data are used to construct a blended wind product regularly sampled in both space and time. The resulting wind field will be used to force the Princeton Ocean Model, which has been implemented in a Southern Tyrrhenian Sea coastal area to simulate wind-driven costal circulation processes.

Wind power: breakthrough to global dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horrighs, W.

1996-01-01

The beginning of the 1980s saw the start of wind-turbine manufacture. Soon it had become a booming industrial sector, thanks mainly to the spirit of some young entrepreneurs and political support in many countries. But the wind-power market has assumed global dimensions and major structural changes have to be faced. (author)

The impacts of wind technology advancement on future global energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Xiaochun; Ma, Chun; Song, Xia; Zhou, Yuyu; Chen, Weiping

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Integrated assessment model perform a series of scenarios of technology advances. • Explore the potential roles of wind energy technology advance in global energy. • Technology advance impacts on energy consumption and global low carbon market. • Technology advance influences on global energy security and stability. - Abstract: To avoid additional global warming and environmental damage, energy systems need to rely on the use of low carbon technologies like wind energy. However, supply uncertainties, production costs, and energy security are the main factors considered by the global economies when reshaping their energy systems. Here, we explore the potential roles of wind energy technology advancement in future global electricity generations, costs, and energy security. We use an integrated assessment model performing a series of technology advancement scenarios. The results show that double of the capital cost reduction causes 40% of generation increase and 10% of cost ​decrease on average in the long-term global wind electricity market. Today’s technology advancement could bring us the benefit of increasing electricity production in the future 40–50 years, and decreasing electricity cost in the future 90–100 years. The technology advancement of wind energy can help to keep global energy security and stability. An aggressive development and deployment of wind energy could in the long-term avoid 1/3 of gas and 1/28 of coal burned, and keep 1/2 biomass and 1/20 nuclear fuel saved from the global electricity system. The key is that wind resources are free and carbon-free. The results of this study are useful in broad coverage ranges from innovative technologies and systems of renewable energy to the economic industrial and domestic use of energy with no or minor impact on the environment.

Response of Ocean Circulation to Different Wind Forcing in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands

Science.gov (United States)

Solano, Miguel; Garcia, Edgardo; Leonardi, Stafano; Canals, Miguel; Capella, Jorge

2013-11-01

The response of the ocean circulation to various wind forcing products has been studied using the Regional Ocean Modeling System. The computational domain includes the main islands of Puerto Rico, Saint John and Saint Thomas, located on the continental shelf dividing the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Data for wind forcing is provided by an anemometer located in a moored buoy, the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) model and the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD). Hindcast simulations have been validated using hydrographic data at different locations in the area of study. Three cases are compared to quantify the impact of high resolution wind forcing on the ocean circulation and the vertical structure of salinity, temperature and velocity. In the first case a constant wind velocity field is used to force the model as measured by an anemometer on top of a buoy. In the second case, a forcing field provided by the Navy's COAMPS model is used and in the third case, winds are taken from NDFD in collaboration with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Validated results of ocean currents against data from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers at different locations show better agreement using high resolution wind data as expected. Thanks to CariCOOS and NOAA.

Tidal flushing and wind driven circulation of Ahe atoll lagoon (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia) from in situ observations and numerical modelling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumas, F.; Le Gendre, R.; Thomas, Y.; Andréfouët, S.

2012-01-01

Hydrodynamic functioning and water circulation of the semi-closed deep lagoon of Ahe atoll (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia) were investigated using 1 year of field data and a 3D hydrodynamical model. Tidal amplitude averaged less than 30 cm, but tide generated very strong currents (2 m s −1 ) in the pass, creating a jet-like circulation that partitioned the lagoon into three residual circulation cells. The pass entirely flushed excess water brought by waves-induced radiation stress. Circulation patterns were computed for climatological meteorological conditions and summarized with stream function and flushing time. Lagoon hydrodynamics and general overturning circulation was driven by wind. Renewal time was 250 days, whereas the e-flushing time yielded a lagoon-wide 80-days average. Tide-driven flush through the pass and wind-driven overturning circulation designate Ahe as a wind-driven, tidally and weakly wave-flushed deep lagoon. The 3D model allows studying pearl oyster larvae dispersal in both realistic and climatological conditions for aquaculture applications.

3D Visualization of Global Ocean Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, V. G.; Sharma, R.; Zhang, E.; Schmittner, A.; Jenny, B.

2015-12-01

Advanced 3D visualization techniques are seldom used to explore the dynamic behavior of ocean circulation. Streamlines are an effective method for visualization of flow, and they can be designed to clearly show the dynamic behavior of a fluidic system. We employ vector field editing and extraction software to examine the topology of velocity vector fields generated by a 3D global circulation model coupled to a one-layer atmosphere model simulating preindustrial and last glacial maximum (LGM) conditions. This results in a streamline-based visualization along multiple density isosurfaces on which we visualize points of vertical exchange and the distribution of properties such as temperature and biogeochemical tracers. Previous work involving this model examined the change in the energetics driving overturning circulation and mixing between simulations of LGM and preindustrial conditions. This visualization elucidates the relationship between locations of vertical exchange and mixing, as well as demonstrates the effects of circulation and mixing on the distribution of tracers such as carbon isotopes.

A Wind Tunnel Model to Explore Unsteady Circulation Control for General Aviation Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Cagle, Christopher M.; Jones, Gregory S.

2002-01-01

Circulation Control airfoils have been demonstrated to provide substantial improvements in lift over conventional airfoils. The General Aviation Circular Control model is an attempt to address some of the concerns of this technique. The primary focus is to substantially reduce the amount of air mass flow by implementing unsteady flow. This paper describes a wind tunnel model that implements unsteady circulation control by pulsing internal pneumatic valves and details some preliminary results from the first test entry.

Assessment of Global Wind Energy Resource Utilization Potential

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, M.; He, B.; Guan, Y.; Zhang, H.; Song, S.

2017-09-01

Development of wind energy resource (WER) is a key to deal with climate change and energy structure adjustment. A crucial issue is to obtain the distribution and variability of WER, and mine the suitable location to exploit it. In this paper, a multicriteria evaluation (MCE) model is constructed by integrating resource richness and stability, utilization value and trend of resource, natural environment with weights. The global resource richness is assessed through wind power density (WPD) and multi-level wind speed. The utilizable value of resource is assessed by the frequency of effective wind. The resource stability is assessed by the coefficient of variation of WPD and the frequency of prevailing wind direction. Regression slope of long time series WPD is used to assess the trend of WER. All of the resource evaluation indicators are derived from the atmospheric reanalysis data ERA-Interim with spatial resolution 0.125°. The natural environment factors mainly refer to slope and land-use suitability, which are derived from multi-resolution terrain elevation data 2010 (GMTED 2010) and GlobalCover2009. Besides, the global WER utilization potential map is produced, which shows most high potential regions are located in north of Africa. Additionally, by verifying that 22.22 % and 48.8 9% operational wind farms fall on medium-high and high potential regions respectively, the result can provide a basis for the macroscopic siting of wind farm.

Spectrum Analysis of Inertial and Subinertial Motions Based on Analyzed Winds and Wind-Driven Currents from a Primitive Equation General Ocean Circulation Model.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-12-01

1Muter.Te Motions Based on Ana lyzed Winds and wind-driven December 1982 Currents from. a Primitive Squat ion General a.OW -love"*..* Oean Circulation...mew se"$ (comeS.... do oISN..u am ae~ 00do OWaor NUN Fourier and Rotary Spc , Analysis Modeled Inertial and Subinrtial Motion 4 Primitive Equation

Global Wind Report. Annual market update 2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pullen, A.; Sawyer, S.

2011-04-01

GWEC's annual report is the authoritative source of information on wind power markets around the world. The Global Wind 2010 Report contains installation figures for over 70 countries for the 2010 record year, as well as a five-year forecast up to 2015 and detailed chapters on the key countries.

Blended 6-Hourly Sea Surface Wind Vectors and Wind Stress on a Global 0.25 Degree Grid (1987-2011)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Blended Global Sea Surface Winds products contain ocean surface wind vectors and wind stress on a global 0.25 degree grid, in multiple time resolutions of...

Reducing storage of global wind ensembles with stochastic generators

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong

2018-03-09

Wind has the potential to make a significant contribution to future energy resources. Locating the sources of this renewable energy on a global scale is however extremely challenging, given the difficulty to store very large data sets generated by modern computer models. We propose a statistical model that aims at reproducing the data-generating mechanism of an ensemble of runs via a Stochastic Generator (SG) of global annual wind data. We introduce an evolutionary spectrum approach with spatially varying parameters based on large-scale geographical descriptors such as altitude to better account for different regimes across the Earth’s orography. We consider a multi-step conditional likelihood approach to estimate the parameters that explicitly accounts for nonstationary features while also balancing memory storage and distributed computation. We apply the proposed model to more than 18 million points of yearly global wind speed. The proposed SG requires orders of magnitude less storage for generating surrogate ensemble members from wind than does creating additional wind fields from the climate model, even if an effective lossy data compression algorithm is applied to the simulation output.

Reducing storage of global wind ensembles with stochastic generators

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong; Castruccio, Stefano; Crippa, Paola; Genton, Marc G.

2018-01-01

Wind has the potential to make a significant contribution to future energy resources. Locating the sources of this renewable energy on a global scale is however extremely challenging, given the difficulty to store very large data sets generated by modern computer models. We propose a statistical model that aims at reproducing the data-generating mechanism of an ensemble of runs via a Stochastic Generator (SG) of global annual wind data. We introduce an evolutionary spectrum approach with spatially varying parameters based on large-scale geographical descriptors such as altitude to better account for different regimes across the Earth’s orography. We consider a multi-step conditional likelihood approach to estimate the parameters that explicitly accounts for nonstationary features while also balancing memory storage and distributed computation. We apply the proposed model to more than 18 million points of yearly global wind speed. The proposed SG requires orders of magnitude less storage for generating surrogate ensemble members from wind than does creating additional wind fields from the climate model, even if an effective lossy data compression algorithm is applied to the simulation output.

Global long-term cost dynamics of offshore wind electricity generation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gernaat, David E H J; Van Vuuren, Detlef P.; Van Vliet, Jasper; Sullivan, Patrick; Arent, Douglas J.

2014-01-01

Using the IMAGE/TIMER (The Targets IMage Energy Regional) long-term integrated assessment model, this paper explores the regional and global potential of offshore wind to contribute to global electricity production. We develop long-term cost supply curve for offshore wind, a representation of the

Wind-energy harnessing - global, national and local considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, T.; Bunn, J.

1996-01-01

A review of the global issues of wind-energy capture and use is given, along with a case for developing the wind-energy potential of part of the Rhymney Valley, South Wales. Such an energy-supply project should be incorporated into an integrated energy and environmental strategy for the region. This would not only yield benefits with respect to the local, national and global environments, but also aid in enhancing the quality of life for the Rhymney Valley region and its inhabitants. (UK)

Variability in Global-Scale Circulations and Their Impacts on Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Activity

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Rosencrans, Matthew J

2006-01-01

... favorable or unfavorable for tropical cyclone formation. Favorable impacts on tropical Atlantic circulation characteristics are defined by an increase in low-level relative vorticity, a decrease in westerly vertical wind shear, and increased convection...

What Drives the Variability of the Atlantic Water Circulation in the Arctic Ocean?

Science.gov (United States)

Lique, C.; Johnson, H. L.

2016-02-01

The Atlantic Water (AW) layer in the Arctic Basin is isolated from the atmosphere by the overlaying surface layer; yet observations of the AW pan-Arctic boundary current have revealed that the velocities in this layer exhibit significant variations on all timescales. Here, analysis of a global ocean/sea ice model hindcast, complemented by experiments performed with an idealized process model, are used to investigate what controls the variability of AW circulation, with a focus on the role of wind forcing. The AW circulation carries the imprint of wind variations, both remotely over the Nordic and Barents seas where they force variability on the AW inflow to the Arctic Basin, and locally over the Arctic Basin through the forcing of the wind-driven Beaufort gyre, which modulates and transfers the wind variability to the AW layer. Our results further suggest that understanding variability in the large amount of heat contained within the AW layer requires a better understanding of the circulation within both AW and surface layers.

Mars Global Digital Dune Database (MGD3): Global dune distribution and wind pattern observations

Science.gov (United States)

Hayward, Rosalyn K.; Fenton, Lori; Titus, Timothy N.

2014-01-01

The Mars Global Digital Dune Database (MGD3) is complete and now extends from 90°N to 90°S latitude. The recently released south pole (SP) portion (MC-30) of MGD3 adds ∼60,000 km2 of medium to large-size dark dune fields and ∼15,000 km2 of sand deposits and smaller dune fields to the previously released equatorial (EQ, ∼70,000 km2), and north pole (NP, ∼845,000 km2) portions of the database, bringing the global total to ∼975,000 km2. Nearly all NP dunes are part of large sand seas, while the majority of EQ and SP dune fields are individual dune fields located in craters. Despite the differences between Mars and Earth, their dune and dune field morphologies are strikingly similar. Bullseye dune fields, named for their concentric ring pattern, are the exception, possibly owing their distinctive appearance to winds that are unique to the crater environment. Ground-based wind directions are derived from slipface (SF) orientation and dune centroid azimuth (DCA), a measure of the relative location of a dune field inside a crater. SF and DCA often preserve evidence of different wind directions, suggesting the importance of local, topographically influenced winds. In general however, ground-based wind directions are broadly consistent with expected global patterns, such as polar easterlies. Intriguingly, between 40°S and 80°S latitude both SF and DCA preserve their strongest, though different, dominant wind direction, with transport toward the west and east for SF-derived winds and toward the north and west for DCA-derived winds.

Influence of the synoptic circulation on the local wind field in a coastal area of the Tyrrhenian Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mastrantonio, G; Petenko, I; Viola, A; Argentini, S; Coniglio, L; Monti, P; Leuzzi, G

2008-01-01

In this paper the statistical analysis of the wind field measured by a Doppler sodar is used to characterize the local circulation at the Tyrrhenian sea coastal site of the Pratica di Mare airfield. Daily behaviour of the wind direction and intensity, as a function of the season, is highlighted and the existence of two nocturnal alternative components of the local circulation is evidenced. Rawinsonde data were used to determine geostrophic wind values. The comparison between low level and geostrophic wind directions allowed to establish the influence of the synoptic scale forcing in determining both which of the two nocturnal currents can be observed at the site and how their directions evolve during the day. Numerical simulations carried out by using the Colorado State University Mesoscale Model (CSUMM) confirm the statistical analysis results and allow to depict the low level wind field patterns in the area. The use of data from ECMWF analysis is proposed in cases in which rawinsonde data are not available to enquire on the synoptic scale forcing

Wind Streaks on Earth; Exploration and Interpretation

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen-Zada, Aviv Lee; Blumberg, Dan G.; Maman, Shimrit

2015-04-01

Wind streaks, one of the most common aeolian features on planetary surfaces, are observable on the surface of the planets Earth, Mars and Venus. Due to their reflectance properties, wind streaks are distinguishable from their surroundings, and they have thus been widely studied by remote sensing since the early 1970s, particularly on Mars. In imagery, these streaks are interpreted as the presence - or lack thereof - of small loose particles on the surface deposited or eroded by wind. The existence of wind streaks serves as evidence for past or present active aeolian processes. Therefore, wind streaks are thought to represent integrative climate processes. As opposed to the comprehensive and global studies of wind streaks on Mars and Venus, wind streaks on Earth are understudied and poorly investigated, both geomorphologically and by remote sensing. The aim of this study is, thus, to fill the knowledge gap about the wind streaks on Earth by: generating a global map of Earth wind streaks from modern high-resolution remotely sensed imagery; incorporating the streaks in a geographic information system (GIS); and overlaying the GIS layers with boundary layer wind data from general circulation models (GCMs) and data from the ECMWF Reanalysis Interim project. The study defines wind streaks (and thereby distinguishes them from other aeolian features) based not only on their appearance in imagery but more importantly on their surface appearance. This effort is complemented by a focused field investigation to study wind streaks on the ground and from a variety of remotely sensed images (both optical and radar). In this way, we provide a better definition of the physical and geomorphic characteristics of wind streaks and acquire a deeper knowledge of terrestrial wind streaks as a means to better understand global and planetary climate and climate change. In a preliminary study, we detected and mapped over 2,900 wind streaks in the desert regions of Earth distributed in

An Improved Global Wind Resource Estimate for Integrated Assessment Models: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eurek, Kelly [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sullivan, Patrick [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gleason, Michael [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hettinger, Dylan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heimiller, Donna [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lopez, Anthony [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-02-01

This paper summarizes initial steps to improving the robustness and accuracy of global renewable resource and techno-economic assessments for use in integrated assessment models. We outline a method to construct country-level wind resource supply curves, delineated by resource quality and other parameters. Using mesoscale reanalysis data, we generate estimates for wind quality, both terrestrial and offshore, across the globe. Because not all land or water area is suitable for development, appropriate database layers provide exclusions to reduce the total resource to its technical potential. We expand upon estimates from related studies by: using a globally consistent data source of uniquely detailed wind speed characterizations; assuming a non-constant coefficient of performance for adjusting power curves for altitude; categorizing the distance from resource sites to the electric power grid; and characterizing offshore exclusions on the basis of sea ice concentrations. The product, then, is technical potential by country, classified by resource quality as determined by net capacity factor. Additional classifications dimensions are available, including distance to transmission networks for terrestrial wind and distance to shore and water depth for offshore. We estimate the total global wind generation potential of 560 PWh for terrestrial wind with 90% of resource classified as low-to-mid quality, and 315 PWh for offshore wind with 67% classified as mid-to-high quality. These estimates are based on 3.5 MW composite wind turbines with 90 m hub heights, 0.95 availability, 90% array efficiency, and 5 MW/km2 deployment density in non-excluded areas. We compare the underlying technical assumption and results with other global assessments.

Counterintuitive effects of global warming-induced wind patterns on primary production in the Northern Humboldt Current System.

Science.gov (United States)

Mogollón, Rodrigo; R Calil, Paulo H

2018-04-14

It has been hypothesized that global warming will strengthen upwelling-favorable winds in the Northern Humboldt Current System (NHCS) as a consequence of the increase of the land-sea thermal gradient along the Peruvian coast. The effect of strengthened winds in this region is assessed with the use of a coupled physical-biogeochemical model forced with projected and climatological winds. Strengthened winds induce an increase in primary production of 2% per latitudinal degree from 9.5°S to 5°S. In some important coastal upwelling sites primary production is reduced. This is due to a complex balance between nutrient availability, nutrient use efficiency, as well as eddy- and wind-driven factors. Mesoscale activity induces a net offshore transport of inorganic nutrients, thus reducing primary production in the coastal upwelling region. Wind mixing, in general disadvantageous for primary producers, leads to shorter residence times in the southern and central coastal zones. Overall, instead of a proportional enhancement in primary production due to increased winds, the NHCS becomes only 5% more productive (+5 mol C m -2 year -1 ), 10% less limited by nutrients and 15% less efficient due to eddy-driven effects. It is found that regions with a initial strong nutrient limitation are more efficient in terms of nutrient assimilation which makes them more resilient in face of the acceleration of the upwelling circulation. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of global onshore wind energy potential and generation costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yuyu; Luckow, Patrick; Smith, Steven J; Clarke, Leon

2012-07-17

In this study, we develop an updated global estimate of onshore wind energy potential using reanalysis wind speed data, along with updated wind turbine technology performance, land suitability factors, cost assumptions, and explicit consideration of transmission distance in the calculation of transmission costs. We find that wind has the potential to supply a significant portion of the world energy needs, although this potential varies substantially by region and with assumptions such as on what types of land can be used to site wind farms. Total global economic wind potential under central assumptions, that is, intermediate between optimistic and pessimistic, is estimated to be approximately 119.5 petawatt hours per year (13.6 TW) at less than 9 cents/kWh. A sensitivity analysis of eight key parameters is presented. Wind potential is sensitive to a number of input parameters, particularly wind speed (varying by -70% to +450% at less than 9 cents/kWh), land suitability (by -55% to +25%), turbine density (by -60% to +80%), and cost and financing options (by -20% to +200%), many of which have important policy implications. As a result of sensitivities studied here we suggest that further research intended to inform wind supply curve development focus not purely on physical science, such as better resolved wind maps, but also on these less well-defined factors, such as land-suitability, that will also have an impact on the long-term role of wind power.

Prospects for global market expansion of China’s wind turbine manufacturing industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gosens, Jorrit; Lu, Yonglong

2014-01-01

Emerging economies are increasingly contributing to global innovation, including clean-tech innovation. The development of China’s wind power sector has often been used to illustrate this point. China’s domestic wind power market is the largest in the world and is largely supplied by domestic manufacturers. Competition for market share in the domestic market may pressure firms to innovate, which consecutively improves prospects for global expansion. This paper reviews developments in China’s domestic wind turbine market using the Technological Innovation System framework. We analyze the pressure to innovate arising from market competition and assess the prospects for global expansion of Chinese wind turbine manufacturers. We conclude that domestic customers are not pressured or incentivized to perform with respect to power output, such that turbine manufacturers are not pressured to perform with respect to turbine efficiency or maintenance needs. Pressure to innovate is further reduced by formalizing connections between wind farm developers and turbine manufacturers. Chinese turbine manufacturers cannot yet compete with leading global brands in technological leadership. The prospects for exports are improved, however, by the preferential supply of project financing from institutional investors, such as the China Development Bank, from Chinese utilities that seek global expansion and from the manufacturers themselves. - Highlights: • We assess the pressure to innovate in the Chinese wind turbine market. • Customer demand is focused more strongly on turbine cost than quality. • Formalizing connections between users and suppliers reduce pressure to innovate. • Chinese manufacturers cannot yet compete globally in technological quality. • Preferential supplies of project finance may provide a vehicle for exports

The Effect of Wind Forcing on Modeling Coastal Circulation at a Marine Renewable Test Site

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Ren

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The hydrodynamic circulation in estuaries is primarily driven by tides, river inflows and surface winds. While tidal and river data can be quite easily obtained for input to hydrodynamic models, sourcing accurate surface wind data is problematic. Inaccurate wind data can lead to inaccuracies in the surface currents computed by three-dimensional hydrodynamic models. In this research, a high-resolution wind model was coupled with a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of Galway Bay, a semi-enclosed estuary on the west coast of Ireland, to investigate the effect of wind forcing on model accuracy. Two wind-forcing conditions were investigated: (1 using wind data measured onshore on the NUI Galway campus (NUIG and (2 using offshore wind data provided by a high resolution wind model (HR. A scenario with no wind forcing (NW was also assessed. The onshore wind data varied with time but the speed and direction were applied across the full model domain. The modeled offshore wind fields varied with both time and space. The effect of wind forcing on modeled hydrodynamics was assessed via comparison of modeled surface currents with surface current measurements obtained from a High-Frequency (HF radar Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar (CODAR observation system. Results indicated that winds were most significant in simulating the north-south surface velocity component. The model using high resolution temporally- and spatially-varying wind data achieved better agreement with the CODAR surface currents than the model using the onshore wind measurements and the model without any wind forcing.

Analysis and Suppression of Zero Sequence Circulating Current in Open Winding PMSM Drives With Common DC Bus

OpenAIRE

Zhan, H.; Zhu, Z.Q.; Odavic, M.

2017-01-01

In this paper, the zero sequence circulating current in open winding permanent magnet synchronous machine (OW-PMSM) drives with common dc bus is systematically analyzed for the first time. It is revealed that the zero sequence circulating current is affected by zero sequence back-electromotive force, cross coupling voltages in zero sequence from the machine side, pulse-width modulation induced zero sequence voltage, and inverter nonlinearity from the inverter side. Particularly, the influence...

Projected changes in prevailing winds for transatlantic migratory birds under global warming.

Science.gov (United States)

La Sorte, Frank A; Fink, Daniel

2017-03-01

A number of terrestrial bird species that breed in North America cross the Atlantic Ocean during autumn migration when travelling to their non-breeding grounds in the Caribbean or South America. When conducting oceanic crossings, migratory birds tend to associate with mild or supportive winds, whose speed and direction may change under global warming. The implications of these changes for transoceanic migratory bird populations have not been addressed. We used occurrence information from eBird (1950-2015) to estimate the geographical location of population centres at a daily temporal resolution across the annual cycle for 10 transatlantic migratory bird species. We used this information to estimate the location and timing of autumn migration within the transatlantic flyway. We estimated how prevailing winds are projected to change within the transatlantic flyway during this time using daily wind speed anomalies (1996-2005 and 2091-2100) from 29 Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models implemented under CMIP5. Autumn transatlantic migrants have the potential to encounter strong westerly crosswinds early in their transatlantic journey at intermediate and especially high migration altitudes, strong headwinds at low and intermediate migration altitudes within the Caribbean that increase in strength as the season progresses, and weak tailwinds at intermediate and high migration altitudes east of the Caribbean. The CMIP5 simulations suggest that, during this century, the likelihood of autumn transatlantic migrants encountering strong westerly crosswinds will diminish. As global warming progresses, the need for species to compensate or drift under the influence of strong westerly crosswinds during the initial phase of their autumn transatlantic journey may be diminished. Existing strategies that promote headwind avoidance and tailwind assistance will likely remain valid. Thus, climate change may reduce time and energy requirements and the chance of mortality or

Linking the South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and the Global Monsoons

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, H.; Dong, S.; Goni, G. J.; Lee, S. K.

2016-02-01

This study tested the hypothesis whether low frequency decadal variability of the South Atlantic meridional heat transport (SAMHT) influences decadal variability of the global monsoons. A multi-century run from a state-of-the-art coupled general circulation model is used as basis for the analysis. Our findings indicate that multi-decadal variability of the South Atlantic Ocean plays a key role in modulating atmospheric circulation via interhemispheric changes in Atlantic Ocean heat content. Weaker SAMHT produces anomalous ocean heat divergence over the South Atlantic resulting in negative ocean heat content anomaly about 15 years later. This, in turn, forces a thermally direct anomalous interhemispheric Hadley circulation in the atmosphere, transporting heat from the northern hemisphere (NH) to the southern hemisphere (SH) and moisture from the SH to the NH, thereby intensify (weaken) summer (winter) monsoon in the NH and winter (summer) monsoon in the SH. Results also show that anomalous atmospheric eddies, both transient and stationary, transport heat northward in both hemispheres producing eddy heat flux convergence (divergence) in the NH (SH) around 15-30°, reinforcing the anomalous Hadley circulation. Overall, SAMHT decadal variability leads its atmospheric response by about 15 years, suggesting that the South Atlantic is a potential predictor of global climate variability.

Jupiter Thermospheric General Circulation Model (JTGCM): Global Structure and Dynamics Driven by Auroral and Joule Heating

Science.gov (United States)

Bougher, S. W.; J. Il. Waite, Jr.; Majeed, T.

2005-01-01

A growing multispectral database plus recent Galileo descent measurements are being used to construct a self-consistent picture of the Jupiter thermosphere/ionosphere system. The proper characterization of Jupiter s upper atmosphere, embedded ionosphere, and auroral features requires the examination of underlying processes, including the feedbacks of energetics, neutral-ion dynamics, composition, and magnetospheric coupling. A fully 3-D Jupiter Thermospheric General Circulation Model (JTGCM) has been developed and exercised to address global temperatures, three-component neutral winds, and neutral-ion species distributions. The domain of this JTGCM extends from 20-microbar (capturing hydrocarbon cooling) to 1.0 x 10(exp -4) nbar (including aurora/Joule heating processes). The resulting JTGCM has been fully spun-up and integrated for greater than or equal to40 Jupiter rotations. Results from three JTGCM cases incorporating moderate auroral heating, ion drag, and moderate to strong Joule heating processes are presented. The neutral horizontal winds at ionospheric heights vary from 0.5 km/s to 1.2 km/s, atomic hydrogen is transported equatorward, and auroral exospheric temperatures range from approx.1200-1300 K to above 3000 K, depending on the magnitude of Joule heating. The equatorial temperature profiles from the JTGCM are compared with the measured temperature structure from the Galileo AS1 data set. The best fit to the Galileo data implies that the major energy source for maintaining the equatorial temperatures is due to dynamical heating induced by the low-latitude convergence of the high-latitude-driven thermospheric circulation. Overall, the Jupiter thermosphere/ionosphere system is highly variable and is shown to be strongly dependent on magnetospheric coupling which regulates Joule heating.

Global sensitivity analysis in wind energy assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Tsvetkova, O.; Ouarda, T. B.

2012-12-01

Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, it is not yet a common source of energy, although there is enough wind potential to supply world's energy demand. One of the most prominent obstacles on the way of employing wind energy is the uncertainty associated with wind energy assessment. Global sensitivity analysis (SA) studies how the variation of input parameters in an abstract model effects the variation of the variable of interest or the output variable. It also provides ways to calculate explicit measures of importance of input variables (first order and total effect sensitivity indices) in regard to influence on the variation of the output variable. Two methods of determining the above mentioned indices were applied and compared: the brute force method and the best practice estimation procedure In this study a methodology for conducting global SA of wind energy assessment at a planning stage is proposed. Three sampling strategies which are a part of SA procedure were compared: sampling based on Sobol' sequences (SBSS), Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) and pseudo-random sampling (PRS). A case study of Masdar City, a showcase of sustainable living in the UAE, is used to exemplify application of the proposed methodology. Sources of uncertainty in wind energy assessment are very diverse. In the case study the following were identified as uncertain input parameters: the Weibull shape parameter, the Weibull scale parameter, availability of a wind turbine, lifetime of a turbine, air density, electrical losses, blade losses, ineffective time losses. Ineffective time losses are defined as losses during the time when the actual wind speed is lower than the cut-in speed or higher than the cut-out speed. The output variable in the case study is the lifetime energy production. Most influential factors for lifetime energy production are identified with the ranking of the total effect sensitivity indices. The results of the present

Changing Strategies in Global Wind Energy Shipping, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Thomas

2015-01-01

Within the global wind energy market, a number of derived industries support the continued expansion of the ever larger onshore and offshore wind farms. One such derived industry is that of shipping, logistics, and supply chain management. Based on extensive case study work performed since 2009......, the paper reviews different wind energy markets globally. Subsequently, a number of supply chain set-ups serviced by the shipping, logistics, and supply chain management industry are reviewed. Finally, winning business models and strategies of current as well as emerging supply chain constituencies...

The global marine phosphorus cycle: sensitivity to oceanic circulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. P. Slomp

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A new mass balance model for the coupled marine cycles of phosphorus (P and carbon (C is used to examine the relationships between oceanic circulation, primary productivity, and sedimentary burial of reactive P and particulate organic C (POC, on geological time scales. The model explicitly represents the exchanges of water and particulate matter between the continental shelves and the open ocean, and it accounts for the redox-dependent burial of POC and the various forms of reactive P (iron(III-bound P, particulate organic P (POP, authigenic calcium phosphate, and fish debris. Steady state and transient simulations indicate that a slowing down of global ocean circulation decreases primary production in the open ocean, but increases that in the coastal ocean. The latter is due to increased transfer of soluble P from deep ocean water to the shelves, where it fuels primary production and causes increased reactive P burial. While authigenic calcium phosphate accounts for most reactive P burial ocean-wide, enhanced preservation of fish debris may become an important reactive P sink in deep-sea sediments during periods of ocean anoxia. Slower ocean circulation globally increases POC burial, because of enhanced POC preservation under anoxia in deep-sea depositional environments and higher primary productivity along the continental margins. In accordance with geological evidence, the model predicts increased accumulation of reactive P on the continental shelves during and following periods of ocean anoxia.

Going with the flow: the role of ocean circulation in global marine ecosystems under a changing climate.

Science.gov (United States)

van Gennip, Simon J; Popova, Ekaterina E; Yool, Andrew; Pecl, Gretta T; Hobday, Alistair J; Sorte, Cascade J B

2017-07-01

Ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation and reduced productivity are widely considered to be the major stressors to ocean ecosystems induced by emissions of CO 2 . However, an overlooked stressor is the change in ocean circulation in response to climate change. Strong changes in the intensity and position of the western boundary currents have already been observed, and the consequences of such changes for ecosystems are beginning to emerge. In this study, we address climatically induced changes in ocean circulation on a global scale but relevant to propagule dispersal for species inhabiting global shelf ecosystems, using a high-resolution global ocean model run under the IPCC RCP 8.5 scenario. The ¼ degree model resolution allows improved regional realism of the ocean circulation beyond that of available CMIP5-class models. We use a Lagrangian approach forced by modelled ocean circulation to simulate the circulation pathways that disperse planktonic life stages. Based on trajectory backtracking, we identify present-day coastal retention, dominant flow and dispersal range for coastal regions at the global scale. Projecting into the future, we identify areas of the strongest projected circulation change and present regional examples with the most significant modifications in their dominant pathways. Climatically induced changes in ocean circulation should be considered as an additional stressor of marine ecosystems in a similar way to ocean warming or acidification. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Global Ocean Circulation in Thermohaline Coordinates and Small-scale and Mesoscale mixing: An Inverse Estimate.

Science.gov (United States)

Groeskamp, S.; Zika, J. D.; McDougall, T. J.; Sloyan, B.

2016-02-01

I will present results of a new inverse technique that infers small-scale turbulent diffusivities and mesoscale eddy diffusivities from an ocean climatology of Salinity (S) and Temperature (T) in combination with surface freshwater and heat fluxes.First, the ocean circulation is represented in (S,T) coordinates, by the diathermohaline streamfunction. Framing the ocean circulation in (S,T) coordinates, isolates the component of the circulation that is directly related to water-mass transformation.Because water-mass transformation is directly related to fluxes of salt and heat, this framework allows for the formulation of an inverse method in which the diathermohaline streamfunction is balanced with known air-sea forcing and unknown mixing. When applying this inverse method to observations, we obtain observationally based estimates for both the streamfunction and the mixing. The results reveal new information about the component of the global ocean circulation due to water-mass transformation and its relation to surface freshwater and heat fluxes and small-scale and mesoscale mixing. The results provide global constraints on spatially varying patterns of diffusivities, in order to obtain a realistic overturning circulation. We find that mesoscale isopycnal mixing is much smaller than expected. These results are important for our understanding of the relation between global ocean circulation and mixing and may lead to improved parameterisations in numerical ocean models.

Sensitivity of ocean oxygenation to variations in tropical zonal wind stress magnitude

Science.gov (United States)

Ridder, Nina N.; England, Matthew H.

2014-09-01

Ocean oxygenation has been observed to have changed over the past few decades and is projected to change further under global climate change due to an interplay of several mechanisms. In this study we isolate the effect of modified tropical surface wind stress conditions on the evolution of ocean oxygenation in a numerical climate model. We find that ocean oxygenation varies inversely with low-latitude surface wind stress. Approximately one third of this response is driven by sea surface temperature anomalies; the remaining two thirds result from changes in ocean circulation and marine biology. Global mean O2 concentration changes reach maximum values of +4 μM and -3.6 μM in the two most extreme perturbation cases of -30% and +30% wind change, respectively. Localized changes lie between +92 μM under 30% reduced winds and -56 μM for 30% increased winds. Overall, we find that the extent of the global low-oxygen volume varies with the same sign as the wind perturbation; namely, weaker winds reduce the low-oxygen volume on the global scale and vice versa for increased trade winds. We identify two regions, one in the Pacific Ocean off Chile and the other in the Indian Ocean off Somalia, that are of particular importance for the evolution of oxygen minimum zones in the global ocean.

Simulation of barotropic wind-driven circulation in the upper layers of Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea during the southwest and northeast monsoon seasons using observed winds

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Bahulayan, N.; Unnikrishnan, A.S.

A two-dimensional, nonlinear, vertically integrated model was used to simulate depth-mean wind-driven circulation in the upper Ekman layers of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. The model resolution was one third of a degree in the latitude...

Implementation Strategy for a Global Solar and Wind Atlas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-01-15

In July 2009, Major Economies Forum leaders met to prepare for the COP 15 Copenhagen Conference that took place later that year. At this occasion the Major Economies Forum Global Partnership f or low carbon and climate-friendly technology was founded and Technology Action Plans (TAPs) for ten key low-carbon technologies were drafted. At that juncture Denmark, Germany and Spain took on the responsibility for drafting TAPs for Solar and Wind Energy Technologies. The TAPs were then consolidated and presented at COP 15 that would later take place in December in Copenhagen. Since then, countries that led the development of the Action Plans have started their implementation. During a first Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in July 2010 in Washington on the invitation of Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy, several initiatives were launched. Denmark, Germany and Spain took the lead in the implementation of the TAPs for Solar and Wind Technologies and initiated the Multilateral Working Group on Solar and Wind Energy Technologies (MWGSW). Several countries joined the working group in Washington and afterwards. In two international workshops in Bonn (June 2010) and Madrid (November 2010) and in meetings during the first CEM in Washington (July 2010) and the second CEM in Abu Dhabi (April 2011) the Multilateral Working Group made substantial progress in the two initial fields of action: (1) the Development of a Global Solar and Wind Atlas; and (2) the Development of a Long-term Strategy on Joint Capacity Building. Discussion papers on the respective topics were elaborated involving the Working Group's member countries as well as various international institutions. This led to concrete proposals for several pilot activities in both fields of action. After further specifying key elements of the suggested projects in two expert workshops in spring 2011, the Multilateral Working Group convened for a third international workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss the project

Global assessment of onshore wind power resources considering the distance to urban areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva Herran, Diego; Dai, Hancheng; Fujimori, Shinichiro; Masui, Toshihiko

2016-01-01

This study assessed global onshore wind power resources considering the distance to urban areas in terms of transmission losses and costs, and visibility (landscape impact) restrictions. Including this factor decreased the economic potential considerably depending on the level of supply cost considered (at least 37% and 16% for an economic potential below 10 and 14 US cents/kWh, respectively). Its importance compared to other factors was secondary below 15 US cents/kWh. At higher costs it was secondary only to land use, and was more important than economic and technical factors. The impact of this factor was mixed across all regions of the world, given the heterogeneity of wind resources in remote and proximal areas. Regions where available resources decreased the most included the European Union, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The supply cost chosen to evaluate the economic potential and uncertainties influencing the estimation of distance to the closest urban area are critical for the assessment. Neglecting the restrictions associated with integration into energy systems and social acceptability resulted in an overestimation of global onshore wind resources. These outcomes are fundamental for global climate policies because they help to clarify the limits of wind energy resource availability. - Highlights: • Global onshore wind resources were assessed including the distance to urban areas. • We evaluate the impact of transmission losses and cost, and visibility restrictions. • The distance to urban areas' impact was considerable, depending on the supply cost. • This factor's importance was secondary to economic, land use, and technical factors. • Neglecting this factor resulted in an overestimation of global wind resources.

A review on global wind energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saidur, R.; Islam, M.R.; Rahim, N.A.; Solangi, K.H.

2010-01-01

With the increasing negative effects of fossil fuel combustion on the environment in addition to limited stock of fossil fuel have forced many countries to inquire into and change to environmentally friendly alternatives that are renewable to sustain the increasing energy demand. Energy policy plays a vital role to mitigate the impacts of global warming and crisis of energy availability. This paper explores the wind energy industry from the point of view of the wind energy policy. It is noticed that energy policy could help increasing wind power generation as well as stimulating the energy industry. It may be stated that without specific energy policy, a country would not be able to solve the acute problems like reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission, scarcity of energy, etc. This paper discussed the existing successful energy policies for few selected countries. Based on literatures, it has been found that FIT, RPS, incentives, pricing law and Quota system are the most useful energy policies practiced by many countries around the world. Then, status of wind energy policy for Malaysia was investigated and compared with few selected countries around the world. (author)

Barotropic wind-driven circulation patterns in a closed rectangular basin of variable depth influenced by a peninsula or an island

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. V. Chubarenko

2000-06-01

Full Text Available We study how a coastal obstruction (peninsula or coastal island affects the three-dimensional barotropic currents in an oblong rectangular basin with variable bathymetry across the basin width. The transverse depth profile is asymmetric and the peninsula or island lies in the middle of the long side of the rectangle. A semi-spectral model for the Boussinesq-approximated shallow water equations, developed in Haidvogel et al. and altered for semi-implicit numerical integration in time in Wang and Hutter, is used to find the steady barotropic state circulation pattern to external winds. The structural (qualitative rearrangements and quanti2tative features of the current pattern are studied under four principal wind directions and different lengths of the peninsula and its inclination relative to the shore. The essentially non-linear relationships of the water flux between the two sub-basins (formed by the obstructing peninsula and the corresponding cross-sectional area left open are found and analysed. It is further analysed whether the depth-integrated model, usually adopted by others, is meaningful when applied to the water exchange problems. The flow through the channel narrowing is quantitatively estimated and compared with the three-dimensional results. The dynamics of the vortex structure and the identification of the up-welling/down-welling zones around the obstruction are discussed in detail. The influence of the transformation of the peninsula into a coastal island on the global basin circulation is considered as are the currents in the channel. The geometric and physical reasons for the anisotropy of the current structure which prevail through all obtained solutions are also discussed.Key words: Oceanography: general (limnology; numerical modeling - Oceanography: physical (currents

Application of Circulation Controlled Blades for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Velissarios Kourkoulis

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The blades of a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT rotor see an inconsistent angle of attack through its rotation. Consequently, VAWT blades generally use symmetrical aerofoils with a lower lift-to-drag ratio than cambered aerofoils tailored to maximise horizontal axis wind turbine rotor performance. This paper considers the feasibility of circulation controlled (CC VAWT blades, using a tangential air jet to provide lift and therefore power augmentation. However CC blade sections require a higher trailing-edge thickness than conventional sections giving rise to additional base drag. The choice of design parameters is a compromise between lift augmentation, additional base drag as well as the power required to pump the air jet. Although CC technology has been investigated for many years, particularly for aerospace applications, few researchers have considered VAWT applications. This paper considers the feasibility of the technology, using Computational Fluid Dynamics to evaluate a baseline CC aerofoil with different trailing-edge ellipse shapes. Lift and drag increments due to CC are considered within a momentum based turbine model to determine net power production. The study found that for modest momentum coefficients significant net power augmentation can be achieved with a relatively simple aerofoil geometry if blowing is controlled through the blades rotation.

CYGNSS Surface Wind Validation and Characteristics in the Maritime Continent

Science.gov (United States)

Asharaf, S.; Waliser, D. E.; Zhang, C.; Wandala, A.

2017-12-01

Surface wind over tropical oceans plays a crucial role in many local/regional weather and climate processes and helps to shape the global climate system. However, there is a lack of consistent high quality observations for surface winds. The newly launched NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission provides near surface wind speed over the tropical ocean with sampling that accounts for the diurnal cycle. In the early phase of the mission, validation is a critical task, and over-ocean validation is typically challenging due to a lack of robust validation resources that a cover a variety of environmental conditions. In addition, it can also be challenging to obtain in-situ observation resources and also to extract co-located CYGNSS records for some of the more scientifically interesting regions, such as the Maritime Continent (MC). The MC is regarded as a key tropical driver for the mean global circulation as well as important large-scale circulation variability such as the Madian-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The focus of this project and analysis is to take advantage of local in-situ resources from the MC regions (e.g. volunteer shipping, marine buoys, and the Year of Maritime Continent (YMC) campaign) to quantitatively characterize and validate the CYGNSS derived winds in the MC region and in turn work to unravel the complex multi-scale interactions between the MJO and MC. This presentation will show preliminary results of a comparison between the CYGNSS and the in-situ surface wind measurements focusing on the MC region. Details about the validation methods, uncertainties, and planned work will be discussed in this presentation.

Climatic fluctuation of temperature and air circulation in the Mediterranean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartzokas, A.; Metaxas, D.A.

1991-01-01

The study of the long term fluctuation of sea surface temperature and 1000/500 mb thickness data in the Mediterranean sea during the last 45 years has shown that the global warming does not appear everywhere. Warming is not apparent in the East Mediterranean but only during the last years, the time series of surface pressure and relative geostrophic vorticity were examined for possible explanation: a strengthening of the northerly wind force have occurred. Thus it can be assumed that local atmospheric circulation changes may support or oppose the global warming in some places

Simulating the Agulhas system in global ocean models - nesting vs. multi-resolution unstructured meshes

Science.gov (United States)

Biastoch, Arne; Sein, Dmitry; Durgadoo, Jonathan V.; Wang, Qiang; Danilov, Sergey

2018-01-01

Many questions in ocean and climate modelling require the combined use of high resolution, global coverage and multi-decadal integration length. For this combination, even modern resources limit the use of traditional structured-mesh grids. Here we compare two approaches: A high-resolution grid nested into a global model at coarser resolution (NEMO with AGRIF) and an unstructured-mesh grid (FESOM) which allows to variably enhance resolution where desired. The Agulhas system around South Africa is used as a testcase, providing an energetic interplay of a strong western boundary current and mesoscale dynamics. Its open setting into the horizontal and global overturning circulations also requires global coverage. Both model configurations simulate a reasonable large-scale circulation. Distribution and temporal variability of the wind-driven circulation are quite comparable due to the same atmospheric forcing. However, the overturning circulation differs, owing each model's ability to represent formation and spreading of deep water masses. In terms of regional, high-resolution dynamics, all elements of the Agulhas system are well represented. Owing to the strong nonlinearity in the system, Agulhas Current transports of both configurations and in comparison with observations differ in strength and temporal variability. Similar decadal trends in Agulhas Current transport and Agulhas leakage are linked to the trends in wind forcing.

Clouds and the extratropical circulation response to global warming in a hierarchy of global atmosphere models

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, A.

2017-12-01

Climate models project that global warming will lead to substantial changes in extratropical jet streams. Yet, many quantitative aspects of warming-induced jet stream changes remain uncertain, and recent work has indicated an important role of clouds and their radiative interactions. Here, I will investigate how cloud-radiative changes impact the zonal-mean extratropical circulation response under global warming using a hierarchy of global atmosphere models. I will first focus on aquaplanet setups with prescribed sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), which reproduce the model spread found in realistic simulations with interactive SSTs. Simulations with two CMIP5 models MPI-ESM and IPSL-CM5A and prescribed clouds show that half of the circulation response can be attributed to cloud changes. The rise of tropical high-level clouds and the upward and poleward movement of midlatitude high-level clouds lead to poleward jet shifts. High-latitude low-level cloud changes shift the jet poleward in one model but not in the other. The impact of clouds on the jet operates via the atmospheric radiative forcing that is created by the cloud changes and is qualitatively reproduced in a dry Held-Suarez model, although the latter is too sensitive because of its simplified treatment of diabatic processes. I will then show that the aquaplanet results also hold when the models are used in a realistic setup that includes continents and seasonality. I will further juxtapose these prescribed-SST simulations with interactive-SST simulations and show that atmospheric and surface cloud-radiative interactions impact the jet poleward jet shifts in about equal measure. Finally, I will discuss the cloud impact on regional and seasonal circulation changes.

The Ether Wind and the Global Positioning System.

Science.gov (United States)

Muller, Rainer

2000-01-01

Explains how students can perform a refutation of the ether theory using information from the Global Positioning System (GPS). Discusses the functioning of the GPS, qualitatively describes how position determination would be affected by an ether wind, and illustrates the pertinent ideas with a simple quantitative model. (WRM)

Current components, physical, ocean circulation, wind circulation, and other data from moored buoys, CTD casts, drifting buoys, and in situ wind recorders from AIRCRAFT and other platforms from the North Atlantic Ocean and other locations as part of the Seasonal Response of the Equatorial Atlantic Experiment/Français Océan et Climat dans l'Atlantique Equatorial (SEQUAL/FOCAL) project from 1980-01-25 to 1985-12-18 (NODC Accession 8700111)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Current components, physical, ocean circulation, wind circulation, and other data were collected from moored buoys, CTD casts, drifting buoys, and in situ wind...

Simulation of barotropic wind-driven circulation in tbe Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea during premonsoon and postmonsoon seasons

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Unnikrishnan, A.S.; Bahulayan, N.

Two-dimensional vertically integrated model has been used to simulate depth-mean wind-driven circulation during premonsoon and postmonsoon seasons in the upper layers of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. The model is integrated for 365 d, forcEd...

Improved Offshore Wind Resource Assessment in Global Climate Stabilization Scenarios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arent, D.; Sullivan, P.; Heimiller, D.; Lopez, A.; Eurek, K.; Badger, J.; Jorgensen, H. E.; Kelly, M.; Clarke, L.; Luckow, P.

2012-10-01

This paper introduces a technique for digesting geospatial wind-speed data into areally defined -- country-level, in this case -- wind resource supply curves. We combined gridded wind-vector data for ocean areas with bathymetry maps, country exclusive economic zones, wind turbine power curves, and other datasets and relevant parameters to build supply curves that estimate a country's offshore wind resource defined by resource quality, depth, and distance-from-shore. We include a single set of supply curves -- for a particular assumption set -- and study some implications of including it in a global energy model. We also discuss the importance of downscaling gridded wind vector data to capturing the full resource potential, especially over land areas with complex terrain. This paper includes motivation and background for a statistical downscaling methodology to account for terrain effects with a low computational burden. Finally, we use this forum to sketch a framework for building synthetic electric networks to estimate transmission accessibility of renewable resource sites in remote areas.

Wind energy. Energy technologies in national, European and global perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauge Madsen, P.; Bjerregaard, E.T.D.

2002-01-01

According to a recent study, global wind generating capacity increased by some 6800 MW in 2001, an annual growth of just over half the corresponding figure for 2000. 2001 was the third consecutive year in which new wind power capacity exceeded new nuclear power capacity, showing the maturity of wind power technology. Total installed wind power worldwide by the end of 2001 was close to 25.000 MW. Germany, Spain and Denmark are the main players, accounting for 56% of the world's capacity increase in 2001 and a total cumulative installed capacity of 14.750 MW, or 59% of the global total. The USA and India are also significant users of wind power; in 2001 the USA added 1700 MW of new installed capacity to become the world's second-largest market for wind power. The report Wind Force 10 outlines a scenario in which wind power provides 10% of the world's electricity by 2020, corresponding to a total installed capacity of 1200 GW. Risoe's System Analysis Department has looked at the possible future costs of electricity produced by wind turbines compared to conventional power. A learning curve analysis of historical data results in a progress ratio of 0,85. This means that for every doubling of the installed capacity, the cost of wind-generated electricity is reduced by 15%. Until recently the main driver for wind power has been a concern for greenhouse gases. Security of energy supply has now become an important issue, however, especially in Europe and the USA. Wind power plants can be erected at short notice and in a modular fashion that allows capacity to be added as required. The European Commission has supported wind power by sponsoring international research co-operation between institutes, universities and equipment manufacturers. The IEA supports worldwide co-operation, and has recently issued a report on the longterm R and D needs of wind energy. Denmark has, mainly financed by the Danish Energy Agency, taken part in the IEA's R and D Wind international co

An evaluation of WRF's ability to reproduce the surface wind over complex terrain based on typical circulation patterns.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jiménez, P.A.; Dudhia, J.; González-Rouco, J.F.; Montávez, J.P.; Garcia-Bustamante, E.; Navarro, J.; Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, J.; Munoz-Roldán, A.

2013-01-01

[1] The performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to reproduce the surface wind circulations over complex terrain is examined. The atmospheric evolution is simulated using two versions of the WRF model during an over 13¿year period (1992 to 2005) over a complex terrain region

Wind Tunnel Measurements of Shuttle Orbiter Global Heating with Comparisons to Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Scott A.; Merski, N. Ronald; Blanchard, Robert C.

2002-01-01

An aerothermodynamic database of global heating images was acquired of the Shuttle Orbiter in the NASA Langley Research Center 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel. These results were obtained for comparison to the global infrared images of the Orbiter in flight from the infrared sensing aeroheating flight experiment (ISAFE). The most recent ISAFE results from STS-103, consisted of port side images, at hypersonic conditions, of the surface features that result from the strake vortex scrubbing along the side of the vehicle. The wind tunnel results were obtained with the phosphor thermography system, which also provides global information and thus is ideally suited for comparison to the global flight results. The aerothermodynamic database includes both windward and port side heating images of the Orbiter for a range of angles of attack (20 to 40 deg), freestream unit Reynolds number (1 x 10(exp 6))/ft to 8 x 10(exp 6)/ft, body flap deflections (0, 5, and 10 deg), speed brake deflections (0 and 45 deg), as well as with boundary layer trips for forced transition to turbulence heating results. Sample global wind tunnel heat transfer images were extrapolated to flight conditions for comparison to Orbiter flight data. A windward laminar case for an angle of attack of 40 deg was extrapolated to Mach 11.6 flight conditions for comparison to STS-2 flight thermocouple results. A portside wind tunnel image for an angle of attack of 25 deg was extrapolated for Mach 5 flight conditions for comparison to STS-103 global surface temperatures. The comparisons showed excellent qualitative agreement, however the extrapolated wind tunnel results over-predicted the flight surface temperatures on the order of 5% on the windward surface and slightly higher on the portside.

Barotropic wind-driven circulation patterns in a closed rectangular basin of variable depth influenced by a peninsula or an island

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. V. Chubarenko

Full Text Available We study how a coastal obstruction (peninsula or coastal island affects the three-dimensional barotropic currents in an oblong rectangular basin with variable bathymetry across the basin width. The transverse depth profile is asymmetric and the peninsula or island lies in the middle of the long side of the rectangle. A semi-spectral model for the Boussinesq-approximated shallow water equations, developed in Haidvogel et al. and altered for semi-implicit numerical integration in time in Wang and Hutter, is used to find the steady barotropic state circulation pattern to external winds. The structural (qualitative rearrangements and quanti2tative features of the current pattern are studied under four principal wind directions and different lengths of the peninsula and its inclination relative to the shore. The essentially non-linear relationships of the water flux between the two sub-basins (formed by the obstructing peninsula and the corresponding cross-sectional area left open are found and analysed. It is further analysed whether the depth-integrated model, usually adopted by others, is meaningful when applied to the water exchange problems. The flow through the channel narrowing is quantitatively estimated and compared with the three-dimensional results. The dynamics of the vortex structure and the identification of the up-welling/down-welling zones around the obstruction are discussed in detail. The influence of the transformation of the peninsula into a coastal island on the global basin circulation is considered as are the currents in the channel. The geometric and physical reasons for the anisotropy of the current structure which prevail through all obtained solutions are also discussed.

Key words: Oceanography: general (limnology; numerical modeling - Oceanography: physical (currents

Wind energy. Energy technologies in national, European and global perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hauge Madsen, P.; Bjerregaard, E.T.D. [Risoe National Lab., Wind Energy Dept., Roskilde (Denmark)

2002-10-01

According to a recent study, global wind generating capacity increased by some 6800 MW in 2001, an annual growth of just over half the corresponding figure for 2000. 2001 was the third consecutive year in which new wind power capacity exceeded new nuclear power capacity, showing the maturity of wind power technology. Total installed wind power worldwide by the end of 2001 was close to 25.000 MW. Germany, Spain and Denmark are the main players, accounting for 56% of the world's capacity increase in 2001 and a total cumulative installed capacity of 14.750 MW, or 59% of the global total. The USA and India are also significant users of wind power; in 2001 the USA added 1700 MW of new installed capacity to become the world's second-largest market for wind power. The report Wind Force 10 outlines a scenario in which wind power provides 10% of the world's electricity by 2020, corresponding to a total installed capacity of 1200 GW. Risoe's System Analysis Department has looked at the possible future costs of electricity produced by wind turbines compared to conventional power. A learning curve analysis of historical data results in a progress ratio of 0,85. This means that for every doubling of the installed capacity, the cost of wind-generated electricity is reduced by 15%. Until recently the main driver for wind power has been a concern for greenhouse gases. Security of energy supply has now become an important issue, however, especially in Europe and the USA. Wind power plants can be erected at short notice and in a modular fashion that allows capacity to be added as required. The European Commission has supported wind power by sponsoring international research co-operation between institutes, universities and equipment manufacturers. The IEA supports worldwide co-operation, and has recently issued a report on the longterm R and D needs of wind energy. Denmark has, mainly financed by the Danish Energy Agency, taken part in the IEA's R and D Wind

Climatology of the HOPE-G global ocean general circulation model - Sea ice general circulation model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Legutke, S. [Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum (DKRZ), Hamburg (Germany); Maier-Reimer, E. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Meteorologie, Hamburg (Germany)

1999-12-01

The HOPE-G global ocean general circulation model (OGCM) climatology, obtained in a long-term forced integration is described. HOPE-G is a primitive-equation z-level ocean model which contains a dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model. It is formulated on a 2.8 grid with increased resolution in low latitudes in order to better resolve equatorial dynamics. The vertical resolution is 20 layers. The purpose of the integration was both to investigate the models ability to reproduce the observed general circulation of the world ocean and to obtain an initial state for coupled atmosphere - ocean - sea-ice climate simulations. The model was driven with daily mean data of a 15-year integration of the atmosphere general circulation model ECHAM4, the atmospheric component in later coupled runs. Thereby, a maximum of the flux variability that is expected to appear in coupled simulations is included already in the ocean spin-up experiment described here. The model was run for more than 2000 years until a quasi-steady state was achieved. It reproduces the major current systems and the main features of the so-called conveyor belt circulation. The observed distribution of water masses is reproduced reasonably well, although with a saline bias in the intermediate water masses and a warm bias in the deep and bottom water of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The model underestimates the meridional transport of heat in the Atlantic Ocean. The simulated heat transport in the other basins, though, is in good agreement with observations. (orig.)

Spatial and temporal patterns of global onshore wind speed distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Yuyu; Smith, Steven J

2013-01-01

Wind power, a renewable energy source, can play an important role in electrical energy generation. Information regarding wind energy potential is important both for energy related modeling and for decision-making in the policy community. While wind speed datasets with high spatial and temporal resolution are often ultimately used for detailed planning, simpler assumptions are often used in analysis work. An accurate representation of the wind speed frequency distribution is needed in order to properly characterize wind energy potential. Using a power density method, this study estimated global variation in wind parameters as fitted to a Weibull density function using NCEP/climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) data over land areas. The Weibull distribution performs well in fitting the time series wind speed data at most locations according to R 2 , root mean square error, and power density error. The wind speed frequency distribution, as represented by the Weibull k parameter, exhibits a large amount of spatial variation, a regionally varying amount of seasonal variation, and relatively low decadal variation. We also analyzed the potential error in wind power estimation when a commonly assumed Rayleigh distribution (Weibull k = 2) is used. We find that the assumption of the same Weibull parameter across large regions can result in non-negligible errors. While large-scale wind speed data are often presented in the form of mean wind speeds, these results highlight the need to also provide information on the wind speed frequency distribution. (letter)

North Atlantic atmospheric circulation and surface wind in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula: uncertainty and long term downscaled variability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia-Bustamante, E.; Jimenez, P.A. [CIEMAT, Departamento de Energias Renovables, Madrid (Spain); Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Astrofisica y CC. de la Atmosfera, Madrid (Spain); Gonzalez-Rouco, J.F. [Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Astrofisica y CC. de la Atmosfera, Madrid (Spain); Navarro, J. [CIEMAT, Departamento de Energias Renovables, Madrid (Spain); Xoplaki, E. [University of Bern, Institute of Geography and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Bern (Switzerland); Montavez, J.P. [Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Fisica, Murcia (Spain)

2012-01-15

The variability and predictability of the surface wind field at the regional scale is explored over a complex terrain region in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula by means of a downscaling technique based on Canonical Correlation Analysis. More than a decade of observations (1992-2005) allows for calibrating and validating a statistical method that elicits the main associations between the large scale atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean areas and the regional wind field. In an initial step the downscaling model is designed by selecting parameter values from practise. To a large extent, the variability of the wind at monthly timescales is found to be governed by the large scale circulation modulated by the particular orographic features of the area. The sensitivity of the downscaling methodology to the selection of the model parameter values is explored, in a second step, by performing a systematic sampling of the parameters space, avoiding a heuristic selection. This provides a metric for the uncertainty associated with the various possible model configurations. The uncertainties associated with the model configuration are considerably dependent on the spatial variability of the wind. While the sampling of the parameters space in the model set up moderately impact estimations during the calibration period, the regional wind variability is very sensitive to the parameters selection at longer timescales. This fact illustrates that downscaling exercises based on a single configuration of parameters should be interpreted with extreme caution. The downscaling model is used to extend the estimations several centuries to the past using long datasets of sea level pressure, thereby illustrating the large temporal variability of the regional wind field from interannual to multicentennial timescales. The analysis does not evidence long term trends throughout the twentieth century, however anomalous episodes of high/low wind speeds are identified

The Mars thermosphere. 2. General circulation with coupled dynamics and composition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bougher, S.W.; Roble, R.G.; Ridley, E.C.; Dickinson, R.E.

1990-01-01

The National Center for Atmospheric Research thermospheric general circulation model (TGCM) for the Earth's thermosphere has been modified to examine the three-dimensional structure and circulation of the upper mesosphere and thermosphere of Mars (MTGCM). The computational framework and major processes unique to a CO 2 thermosphere are similar to those utilized in a recent Venus TGCM. Solar EUV, UV, and IR heating alone combine to drive the Martian winds above ∼100 km. An equinox version of the code is used to examine the Mars global dynamics and structure for two specific observational periods spanning a range of solar activity: Viking 1 (July 1976) and Mariner 6-7 (August-September 1969). The MTGCM is then modified to predict the state of the Mars thermosphere for various combinations of solar and orbital conditions. Calculations show that no nightside cryosphere of the type observed on Venus is obtained on the Mars nightside. Instead, planetary rotation significantly modifies the winds and the day-to-night contrast in densities and temperatures, giving a diurnal behavior similar to the Earth under quiet solar conditions. Maximum exospheric temperatures are calculated near 1,500 LT (≤ 305 K), with minimum values at 0500 LT (≤ 175 K). The global temperature distribution is strongly modified by nightside adiabatic heating (subsidence) and dayside cooling (upwelling). The global winds also affect vertical density distributions; vertical eddy diffusion much weaker than used in previous one-dimensional models is required to maintain observed Viking profiles. A solar cycle variation in dayside exospheric temperatures of ∼195-305 K is simulated by the Viking and Mariner runs

Uncertainty in the global oceanic CO2 uptake induced by wind forcing: quantification and spatial analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Roobaert

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The calculation of the air–water CO2 exchange (FCO2 in the ocean not only depends on the gradient in CO2 partial pressure at the air–water interface but also on the parameterization of the gas exchange transfer velocity (k and the choice of wind product. Here, we present regional and global-scale quantifications of the uncertainty in FCO2 induced by several widely used k formulations and four wind speed data products (CCMP, ERA, NCEP1 and NCEP2. The analysis is performed at a 1°  ×  1° resolution using the sea surface pCO2 climatology generated by Landschützer et al. (2015a for the 1991–2011 period, while the regional assessment relies on the segmentation proposed by the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP project. First, we use k formulations derived from the global 14C inventory relying on a quadratic relationship between k and wind speed (k = c ⋅ U102; Sweeney et al., 2007; Takahashi et al., 2009; Wanninkhof, 2014, where c is a calibration coefficient and U10 is the wind speed measured 10 m above the surface. Our results show that the range of global FCO2, calculated with these k relationships, diverge by 12 % when using CCMP, ERA or NCEP1. Due to differences in the regional wind patterns, regional discrepancies in FCO2 are more pronounced than global. These global and regional differences significantly increase when using NCEP2 or other k formulations which include earlier relationships (i.e., Wanninkhof, 1992; Wanninkhof et al., 2009 as well as numerous local and regional parameterizations derived experimentally. To minimize uncertainties associated with the choice of wind product, it is possible to recalculate the coefficient c globally (hereafter called c∗ for a given wind product and its spatio-temporal resolution, in order to match the last evaluation of the global k value. We thus performed these recalculations for each wind product at the resolution and time period of our study

Uncertainty in the global oceanic CO2 uptake induced by wind forcing: quantification and spatial analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Roobaert, Alizée; Laruelle, Goulven G.; Landschützer, Peter; Regnier, Pierre

2018-03-01

The calculation of the air-water CO2 exchange (FCO2) in the ocean not only depends on the gradient in CO2 partial pressure at the air-water interface but also on the parameterization of the gas exchange transfer velocity (k) and the choice of wind product. Here, we present regional and global-scale quantifications of the uncertainty in FCO2 induced by several widely used k formulations and four wind speed data products (CCMP, ERA, NCEP1 and NCEP2). The analysis is performed at a 1° × 1° resolution using the sea surface pCO2 climatology generated by Landschützer et al. (2015a) for the 1991-2011 period, while the regional assessment relies on the segmentation proposed by the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) project. First, we use k formulations derived from the global 14C inventory relying on a quadratic relationship between k and wind speed (k = c ṡ U102; Sweeney et al., 2007; Takahashi et al., 2009; Wanninkhof, 2014), where c is a calibration coefficient and U10 is the wind speed measured 10 m above the surface. Our results show that the range of global FCO2, calculated with these k relationships, diverge by 12 % when using CCMP, ERA or NCEP1. Due to differences in the regional wind patterns, regional discrepancies in FCO2 are more pronounced than global. These global and regional differences significantly increase when using NCEP2 or other k formulations which include earlier relationships (i.e., Wanninkhof, 1992; Wanninkhof et al., 2009) as well as numerous local and regional parameterizations derived experimentally. To minimize uncertainties associated with the choice of wind product, it is possible to recalculate the coefficient c globally (hereafter called c∗) for a given wind product and its spatio-temporal resolution, in order to match the last evaluation of the global k value. We thus performed these recalculations for each wind product at the resolution and time period of our study but the resulting global FCO2 estimates

Influence of Wind Strength and Duration on Relative Hypoxia Reductions by Opposite Wind Directions in an Estuary with an Asymmetric Channel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Wang

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Computer model experiments are applied to analyze hypoxia reductions for opposing wind directions under various speeds and durations in the north–south oriented, two-layer-circulated Chesapeake estuary. Wind’s role in destratification is the main mechanism in short-term reduction of hypoxia. Hypoxia can also be reduced by wind-enhanced estuarine circulation associated with winds that have down-estuary straining components that promote bottom-returned oxygen-rich seawater intrusion. The up-bay-ward along-channel component of straining by the southerly or easterly wind induces greater destratification than the down-bay-ward straining by the opposite wind direction, i.e., northerly or westerly winds. While under the modulation of the west-skewed asymmetric cross-channel bathymetry in the Bay’s hypoxic zone, the westward cross-channel straining by easterly or northerly winds causes greater destratification than its opposite wind direction. The wind-induced cross-channel circulation can be completed much more rapidly than the wind-induced along-channel circulation, and the former is usually more effective than the latter in destratification and hypoxia reduction in an early wind period. The relative importance of cross-channel versus along-channel circulation for a particular wind direction can change with wind speed and duration. The existence of month-long prevailing unidirectional winds in the Chesapeake is explored, and the relative hypoxia reductions among different prevailing directions are analyzed. Scenarios of wind with intermittent calm or reversing directions on an hourly scale are also simulated and compared.

Total kinetic energy in four global eddying ocean circulation models and over 5000 current meter records

KAUST Repository

Scott, Robert B.; Arbic, Brian K.; Chassignet, Eric P.; Coward, Andrew C.; Maltrud, Mathew; Merryfield, William J.; Srinivasan, Ashwanth; Varghese, Anson

2010-01-01

We compare the total kinetic energy (TKE) in four global eddying ocean circulation simulations with a global dataset of over 5000, quality controlled, moored current meter records. At individual mooring sites, there was considerable scatter between

Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulation of a 2D Circulation Control Wind Tunnel Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Allan, Brian G.; Jones, Greg; Lin, John C.

2011-01-01

Numerical simulations are performed using a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) flow solver for a circulation control airfoil. 2D and 3D simulation results are compared to a circulation control wind tunnel test conducted at the NASA Langley Basic Aerodynamics Research Tunnel (BART). The RANS simulations are compared to a low blowing case with a jet momentum coefficient, C(sub u), of 0:047 and a higher blowing case of 0.115. Three dimensional simulations of the model and tunnel walls show wall effects on the lift and airfoil surface pressures. These wall effects include a 4% decrease of the midspan sectional lift for the C(sub u) 0.115 blowing condition. Simulations comparing the performance of the Spalart Allmaras (SA) and Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence models are also made, showing the SST model compares best to the experimental data. A Rotational/Curvature Correction (RCC) to the turbulence model is also evaluated demonstrating an improvement in the CFD predictions.

Wind energy, status and opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Wijk, A.

1994-01-01

Wind energy is diffuse but was widely used before the industrial revolution. The first oil crisis triggered renewed interest in wind energy technology in remote areas. Winds develop when solar radiation reaches the earth's highly varied surface unevenly, creating temperature density and pressure differences. The earth's atmosphere has to circulate to transport heat from the tropics towards the poles. On a global scale, these atmospheric currents work as an immense energy transfer medium. Three main applications can be distinguished: wind pumps, off-grid applications and grid-connected applications. The total generating costs for wind turbine systems are determined by total investments costs, the life time, the operating and maintenance costs, the wind regime (the wind energy potential is proportional to v 3 where v is the wind speed), the efficiency and availability of the wind turbine. The main gains are achieved as a result of improved reliability. The optimum size of a wind turbine depends on the wind speed, the wind turbine costs, the construction costs, the environmental impact and the social costs. The value of wind energy depends on the application that is made of the energy generated and on the costs of alternatives, it can be calculated by the avoided costs of damage to flora, fauna and mankind due to acid rain deposition, enhancement of the greenhouse effect. The environmental aspects are bird hindrance, noise, telecommunication interference and safety. 2 tabs., 1 fig

Global Modeling of Internal Tides Within an Eddying Ocean General Circulation Model

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-31

paper aooo not violate: any Oisclosur~,;·of trade• secrets or suggestions of outside individuals on::oncams whiCh have· beE !n communicated 1.o...fully three- dimensional global ocean circulation model, we will provide an internal tide capability everywhere, and allow nested models to include

Consequences for wind power in Sweden of climatic changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hovsenius, Gunnar; Kjellstroem, Erik

2007-05-01

In an earlier report to Elforsk SMHI has calculated that a total installed effect of 4000 MW in wind mills in Sweden will as an annual average generate approximately 10 TWh of electricity during the period of 1992 - 2001. These estimates has an uncertainty of ±5 %. The calculations are related to a scenario with 56 larger wind mill farms of which an essential part is located to the southern part of Sweden and to off shore installations. This study is aimed to investigate if a climate change in a future of 20 - 30 years from now will influence the wind power generation compared to the earlier study. The views of the future wind energy which are presented in this study are partly based on calculations performed at Rossby Centre, SMHI, partly on other reported studies. The calculations performed at Rossby Centre originate from three of the emission scenarios - A1B, A2 and B2 - presented by the International Panel on Climate Change, IPCC. The differences between these scenarios are marginal for the next 20-30 years. The calculations are also based on a regional climate model developed at the Rossby Centre, which has been widely accepted in the science. The boundary conditions used to the regional model are generated from two global circulation models developed at Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. This study can be concluded in the following four points: 1. The generation of electricity from wind mills may increase by 5 - 20 % within a period of 20 - 30 years from now, compared to the period 1992 - 2001 or from 10 up to about 12 TWh per annum. A long-term increase of the wind energy in the region of the Baltic Sea seems to be a trend in several of the scientific well reputed global circulation models. 2. The energy content of the wind has during the last century varied approximately with ± 10 % in Sweden and in the region of the Baltic Sea. For the period of 1992- 2001 the energy content of the wind however decreased. If the estimated increase in wind

Use of wind data in global modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Pailleux, J.

1985-01-01

The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is producing operational global analyses every 6 hours and operational global forecasts every day from the 12Z analysis. How the wind data are used in the ECMWF golbal analysis is described. For each current wind observing system, its ability to provide initial conditions for the forecast model is discussed as well as its weaknesses. An assessment of the impact of each individual system on the quality of the analysis and the forecast is given each time it is possible. Sometimes the deficiencies which are pointed out are related not only to the observing system itself but also to the optimum interpolation (OI) analysis scheme; then some improvements are generally possible through ad hoc modifications of the analysis scheme and especially tunings of the structure functions. Examples are given. The future observing network over the North Atlantic is examined. Several countries, coordinated by WMO, are working to set up an 'Operational WWW System Evaluation' (OWSE), in order to evaluate the operational aspects of the deployment of new systems (ASDAR, ASAP). Most of the new systems are expected to be deployed before January 1987, and in order to make the best use of the available resources during the deployment phase, some network studies are carried out at the present time, by using simulated data for ASDAR and ASAP systems. They are summarized.

The role of zonally asymmetric heating in the vertical and temporal structure of the global scale flow fields during FGGE SOP-1. [First Global Atmospheric Research Program Global Experiment (FGGE); Special Observing Period (SOP)

Science.gov (United States)

Paegle, J.; Kalnay-Rivas, E.; Baker, W. E.

1981-01-01

By examining the vertical structure of the low order spherical harmonics of the divergence and vorticity fields, the relative contribution of tropical and monsoonal circulations upon the global wind fields was estimated. This indicates that the overall flow over North America and the Pacific between January and February is quite distinct both in the lower and upper troposphere. In these longitudes there is a stronger tropical overturning and subtropical jet stream in January than February. The divergent flow reversed between 850 and 200 mb. Poleward rotational flow at upper levels is associated with an equatorward rotational flow at low levels. This suggests that the monsoon and other tropical circulations project more amplitude upon low order (global scale) representations of the flow than do the typical midlatitude circulations and that their structures show conspicuous changes on a time scale of a week or less.

Modelling the water mass circulation in the Aegean Sea. Part I: wind stresses, thermal and haline fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. A. Valioulis

1994-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to develop a computer model capable of simulating the water mass circulation in the Aegean Sea. There is historical, phenomenological and recent experimental evidence of important hydrographical features whose causes have been variably identified as the highly complex bathymetry, the extreme seasonal variations in temperature, the considerable fresh water fluxes, and the large gradients in salinity or temperature across neighbouring water masses (Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. In the approach taken here, physical processes are introduced into the model one by one. This method reveals the parameters responsible for permanent and seasonal features of the Aegean Sea circulation. In the first part of the work reported herein, wind-induced circulation appears to be seasonally invariant. This yearly pattern is overcome by the inclusion of baroclinicity in the model in the form of surface thermohaline fluxes. The model shows an intricate pattern of sub-basin gyres and locally strong currents, permanent or seasonal, in accord with the experimental evidence.

Modelling the water mass circulation in the Aegean Sea. Part I: wind stresses, thermal and haline fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. A. Valioulis

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to develop a computer model capable of simulating the water mass circulation in the Aegean Sea. There is historical, phenomenological and recent experimental evidence of important hydrographical features whose causes have been variably identified as the highly complex bathymetry, the extreme seasonal variations in temperature, the considerable fresh water fluxes, and the large gradients in salinity or temperature across neighbouring water masses (Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. In the approach taken here, physical processes are introduced into the model one by one. This method reveals the parameters responsible for permanent and seasonal features of the Aegean Sea circulation. In the first part of the work reported herein, wind-induced circulation appears to be seasonally invariant. This yearly pattern is overcome by the inclusion of baroclinicity in the model in the form of surface thermohaline fluxes. The model shows an intricate pattern of sub-basin gyres and locally strong currents, permanent or seasonal, in accord with the experimental evidence.

Supply Chain and Blade Manufacturing Considerations in the Global Wind Industry (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

James, Ted [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Goodrich, Alan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2013-12-12

This briefing provides an overview of supply chain developments in the global wind industry and a detailed assessment of blade manufacturing considerations for U.S. end-markets. The report discusses the international trade flows of wind power equipment, blade manufacturing and logistical costs, and qualitative issues that often influence factory location decisions. To help guide policy and research and development strategy decisions, this report offers a comprehensive perspective of both quantitative and qualitative factors that affect selected supply chain developments in the growing wind power industry.

Solar wind modulation of the Martian ionosphere observed by Mars Global Surveyor

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J.-S. Wang

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Electron density profiles in the Martian ionosphere observed by the radio occultation experiment on board Mars Global Surveyor have been analyzed to determine if the densities are influenced by the solar wind. Evidence is presented that the altitude of the maximum ionospheric electron density shows a positive correlation to the energetic proton flux in the solar wind. The solar wind modulation of the Martian ionosphere can be attributed to heating of the neutral atmosphere by the solar wind energetic proton precipitation. The modulation is observed to be most prominent at high solar zenith angles. It is argued that this is consistent with the proposed modulation mechanism.

Orographic effects on tropical climate in a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model

Science.gov (United States)

Okajima, Hideki

Large-scale mountain modifies the atmospheric circulation directly through dynamic and thermodynamic process, and also indirectly through the interaction with the ocean. To investigate orographic impacts on tropical climate, a fully coupled general circulation model (CGCM) is developed by coupling a state-of-the-art atmospheric general circulation model and an ocean general circulation model. With realistic boundary conditions, the CGCM produces a reasonable climatology of sea surface temperature (SST), surface winds, and precipitation. When global mountains are removed, the model climatology displays substantial changes in both the mean-state and the seasonal cycle. The equatorial eastern Pacific SST acquires a semi-annual component as inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) flips and flops across the equator following the seasonal migration of the sun. Without the Andes, wet air flows into the southeastern tropical Pacific from the humid Amazon, which weakens the meridional asymmetry during the Peruvian warm season (February-April). In addition, the northeasterly trade winds are enhanced north of the equator without the orographic blocking of Central American mountains and cools SST. Triggered by the SST cooling north and moistening south of the equator, the wind-evaporation-SST (WES) feedback further weakens the meridional asymmetry and prolongs the southern ITCZ. In the Atlantic Ocean, the equatorial cold tongue is substantially strengthened and develops a pronounced annual cycle in the absence of mountains. The easterly winds are overall enhanced over the equatorial Atlantic without orographic heating over the African highlands, developing a zonal asymmetry strengthened by the Bjerknes feedback. In the Indian Ocean, the thermocline shoals eastward and an equatorial cold tongue appears twice a year. During boreal summer, the Findlater jet is greatly weakened off Somalia and SST warms in the western Indian Ocean, forcing the equatorial easterly winds amplified

Nacelle Chine Installation Based on Wind-Tunnel Test Using Efficient Global Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Kanazaki, Masahiro; Yokokawa, Yuzuru; Murayama, Mitsuhiro; Ito, Takeshi; Jeong, Shinkyu; Yamamoto, Kazuomi

Design exploration of a nacelle chine installation was carried out. The nacelle chine improves stall performance when deploying multi-element high-lift devices. This study proposes an efficient design process using a Kriging surrogate model to determine the nacelle chine installation point in wind-tunnel tests. The design exploration was conducted in a wind-tunnel using the JAXA high-lift aircraft model at the JAXA Large-scale Low-speed Wind Tunnel. The objective was to maximize the maximum lift. The chine installation points were designed on the engine nacelle in the axial and chord-wise direction, while the geometry of the chine was fixed. In the design process, efficient global optimization (EGO) which includes Kriging model and genetic algorithm (GA) was employed. This method makes it possible both to improve the accuracy of the response surface and to explore the global optimum efficiently. Detailed observations of flowfields using the Particle Image Velocimetry method confirmed the chine effect and design results.

Large-scale atmospheric circulation biases and changes in global climate model simulations and their importance for climate change in Central Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. P. van Ulden

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The quality of global sea level pressure patterns has been assessed for simulations by 23 coupled climate models. Most models showed high pattern correlations. With respect to the explained spatial variance, many models showed serious large-scale deficiencies, especially at mid-latitudes. Five models performed well at all latitudes and for each month of the year. Three models had a reasonable skill. We selected the five models with the best pressure patterns for a more detailed assessment of their simulations of the climate in Central Europe. We analysed observations and simulations of monthly mean geostrophic flow indices and of monthly mean temperature and precipitation. We used three geostrophic flow indices: the west component and south component of the geostrophic wind at the surface and the geostrophic vorticity. We found that circulation biases were important, and affected precipitation in particular. Apart from these circulation biases, the models showed other biases in temperature and precipitation, which were for some models larger than the circulation induced biases. For the 21st century the five models simulated quite different changes in circulation, precipitation and temperature. Precipitation changes appear to be primarily caused by circulation changes. Since the models show widely different circulation changes, especially in late summer, precipitation changes vary widely between the models as well. Some models simulate severe drying in late summer, while one model simulates significant precipitation increases in late summer. With respect to the mean temperature the circulation changes were important, but not dominant. However, changes in the distribution of monthly mean temperatures, do show large indirect influences of circulation changes. Especially in late summer, two models simulate very strong warming of warm months, which can be attributed to severe summer drying in the simulations by these models. The models differ also

Statistical downscaling of sea-surface wind over the Peru-Chile upwelling region: diagnosing the impact of climate change from the IPSL-CM4 model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goubanova, K. [CNES/CNRS/IRD/UPS, Laboratoire d' Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale, Toulouse (France); Instituto del Mar del Peru, Callao (Peru); Echevin, V.; Terray, P. [IPSL/UPMC/IRD, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et de Climatologie, Experimentation et Approches Numeriques, Paris (France); Dewitte, B. [CNES/CNRS/IRD/UPS, Laboratoire d' Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale, Toulouse (France); Instituto del Mar del Peru, Callao (Peru); Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Lima (Peru); Codron, F. [UPMC/CNRS, Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, Paris (France); Takahashi, K. [Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Lima (Peru); Vrac, M. [IPSL/CNRS/CEA/UVSQ, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l' Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

2011-04-15

The key aspect of the ocean circulation off Peru-Chile is the wind-driven upwelling of deep, cold, nutrient-rich waters that promote a rich marine ecosystem. It has been suggested that global warming may be associated with an intensification of upwelling-favorable winds. However, the lack of high-resolution long-term observations has been a limitation for a quantitative analysis of this process. In this study, we use a statistical downscaling method to assess the regional impact of climate change on the sea-surface wind over the Peru-Chile upwelling region as simulated by the global coupled general circulation model IPSL-CM4. Taking advantage of the high-resolution QuikSCAT wind product and of the NCEP reanalysis data, a statistical model based on multiple linear regressions is built for the daily mean meridional and zonal wind at 10 m for the period 2000-2008. The large-scale 10 m wind components and sea level pressure are used as regional circulation predictors. The skill of the downscaling method is assessed by comparing with the surface wind derived from the ERS satellite measurements, with in situ wind observations collected by ICOADS and through cross-validation. It is then applied to the outputs of the IPSL-CM4 model over stabilized periods of the pre-industrial, 2 x CO{sub 2} and 4 x CO{sub 2} IPCC climate scenarios. The results indicate that surface along-shore winds off central Chile (off central Peru) experience a significant intensification (weakening) during Austral winter (summer) in warmer climates. This is associated with a general decrease in intra-seasonal variability. (orig.)

Reduced interdecadal variability of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation under global warming.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Jun; Liu, Zhengyu; Zhang, Shaoqing; Liu, Wei; Dong, Lina; Liu, Peng; Li, Hongli

2016-03-22

Interdecadal variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC-IV) plays an important role in climate variation and has significant societal impacts. Past climate reconstruction indicates that AMOC-IV has likely undergone significant changes. Despite some previous studies, responses of AMOC-IV to global warming remain unclear, in particular regarding its amplitude and time scale. In this study, we analyze the responses of AMOC-IV under various scenarios of future global warming in multiple models and find that AMOC-IV becomes weaker and shorter with enhanced global warming. From the present climate condition to the strongest future warming scenario, on average, the major period of AMOC-IV is shortened from ∼50 y to ∼20 y, and the amplitude is reduced by ∼60%. These reductions in period and amplitude of AMOC-IV are suggested to be associated with increased oceanic stratification under global warming and, in turn, the speedup of oceanic baroclinic Rossby waves.

Reduced interdecadal variability of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation under global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Jun; Liu, Zhengyu; Zhang, Shaoqing; Liu, Wei; Dong, Lina; Liu, Peng; Li, Hongli

2016-01-01

Interdecadal variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC-IV) plays an important role in climate variation and has significant societal impacts. Past climate reconstruction indicates that AMOC-IV has likely undergone significant changes. Despite some previous studies, responses of AMOC-IV to global warming remain unclear, in particular regarding its amplitude and time scale. In this study, we analyze the responses of AMOC-IV under various scenarios of future global warming in multiple models and find that AMOC-IV becomes weaker and shorter with enhanced global warming. From the present climate condition to the strongest future warming scenario, on average, the major period of AMOC-IV is shortened from ∼50 y to ∼20 y, and the amplitude is reduced by ∼60%. These reductions in period and amplitude of AMOC-IV are suggested to be associated with increased oceanic stratification under global warming and, in turn, the speedup of oceanic baroclinic Rossby waves. PMID:26951654

Wind Forcing of the Pacific Ocean Using Scatterometer Wind Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Kathryn A.

1999-01-01

The long-term objective of this research was an understanding of the wind-forced ocean circulation, particularly for the Pacific Ocean. To determine the ocean's response to the winds, we first needed to generate accurate maps of wind stress. For the ocean's response to wind stress we examined the sea surface height (SSH) both from altimeters and from numerical models for the Pacific Ocean.

Blowing jets as a circulation flow control to enhancement the lift of wing or generated power of wind turbine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru DUMITRACHE

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The goal of this paper is to provide a numerical flow analysis based on RANS equations in two directions: the study of augmented high-lift system for a cross-section airfoil of a wing up to transonic regime and the circulation control implemented by tangentially blowing jet over a highly curved surface due to Coanda effect on a rotor blade for a wind turbine. This study were analyzed the performance, sensitivities and limitations of the circulation control method based on blowing jet for a fixed wing as well as for a rotating wing. Directions of future research are identified and discussed.

Global surface wind and flux fields from model assimilation of Seasat data

Science.gov (United States)

Atlas, R.; Busalacchi, A. J.; Kalnay, E.; Bloom, S.; Ghil, M.

1986-01-01

Procedures for dealiasing Seasat data and developing global surface wind and latent and sensible heat flux fields are discussed. Seasat data from September 20, 1978 was dealiased using the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres (GLA) analysis/forecast system. The wind data obtained with the objective GLA forecast model are compared to the data subjectively dealiased by Peteherych et al. (1984) and Hoffman (1982, 1984). The GLA procedure is also verified using simulated Seasat data. The areas of high and low heat fluxes and cyclonic and anticyclonic wind stresses detected in the generated fields are analyzed and compared to climatological fields. It is observed that there is good correlation between the time-averaged analyses of wind stress obtained subjectively and objectively, and the monthly mean wind stress and latent fluxes agree with climatological fields and atmospheric and oceanic features.

Global Sensitivity Analysis of High Speed Shaft Subsystem of a Wind Turbine Drive Train

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Asadi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The wind turbine dynamics are complex and critical area of study for the wind industry. Quantification of the effective factors to wind turbine performance is valuable for making improvements to both power performance and turbine health. In this paper, the global sensitivity analysis of validated mathematical model for high speed shaft drive train test rig has been developed in order to evaluate the contribution of systems input parameters to the specified objective functions. The drive train in this study consists of a 3-phase induction motor, flexible shafts, shafts’ coupling, bearing housing, and disk with an eccentric mass. The governing equations were derived by using the Lagrangian formalism and were solved numerically by Newmark method. The variance based global sensitivity indices are introduced to evaluate the contribution of input structural parameters correlated to the objective functions. The conclusion from the current research provides informative beneficial data in terms of design and optimization of a drive train setup and also can provide better understanding of wind turbine drive train system dynamics with respect to different structural parameters, ultimately designing more efficient drive trains. Finally, the proposed global sensitivity analysis (GSA methodology demonstrates the detectability of faults in different components.

Effects of the Solar Wind Pressure on Mercury's Exosphere: Hybrid Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Travnicek, P. M.; Schriver, D.; Orlando, T. M.; Hellinger, P.

2017-12-01

We study effects of the changed solar wind pressure on the precipitation of hydrogen on the Mercury's surface and on the formation of Mercury's magnetosphere. We carry out a set of global hybrid simulations of the Mercury's magnetosphere with the interplanetary magnetic field oriented in the equatorial plane. We change the solar wind pressure by changing the velocity of injected solar wind plasma (vsw = 2 vA,sw; vsw = 4 vA,sw; vsw = 6 vA,sw). For each of the cases we examine proton and electron precipitation on Mercury's surface and calculate yields of heavy ions released from Mercury's surface via various processes (namely: Photo-Stimulated Desorption, Solar Wind Sputtering, and Electron Stimulated Desorption). We study circulation of the released ions within the Mercury's magnetosphere for the three cases.

Exploring the sensitivity of global ocean circulation to future ice loss from Antarctica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Condron, Alan [Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States); Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Woods Hole, MA (United States)

2017-09-30

The sensitivity of the global ocean circulation and climate to large increases in iceberg calving and meltwater discharges from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) are rarely studied and poorly understood. The requirement to investigate this topic is heightened by growing evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is vulnerable to rapid retreat and collapse on multidecadal-to-centennial timescales. Observations collected over the last 30 years indicate that the WAIS is now losing mass at an accelerated and that a collapse may have already begun in the Amundsen Sea sector. In addition, some recent future model simulations of the AIS show the potential for rapid ice sheet retreat in the next 50 – 300 years. Such a collapse would be associated with the discharge of enormous volumes of ice and meltwater to the Southern Ocean. This project funds PI Condron to begin assessing the sensitivity of the global ocean circulation to projected increases in meltwater discharge and iceberg calving from the AIS for the next 50 – 100 years. A series of climate model simulations will determine changes in ocean circulation and temperature at the ice sheet grounding line, the role of mesoscale ocean eddies in mixing and transporting freshwater away from the continent to deep water formation regions, and the likely impact on the northward transport of heat to Europe and North America.

MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION DYNAMICS FROM 3D MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC GLOBAL SIMULATIONS OF SOLAR CONVECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Passos, Dário; Charbonneau, Paul; Miesch, Mark

2015-01-01

The form of solar meridional circulation is a very important ingredient for mean field flux transport dynamo models. However, a shroud of mystery still surrounds this large-scale flow, given that its measurement using current helioseismic techniques is challenging. In this work, we use results from three-dimensional global simulations of solar convection to infer the dynamical behavior of the established meridional circulation. We make a direct comparison between the meridional circulation that arises in these simulations and the latest observations. Based on our results, we argue that there should be an equatorward flow at the base of the convection zone at mid-latitudes, below the current maximum depth helioseismic measures can probe (0.75 R ⊙ ). We also provide physical arguments to justify this behavior. The simulations indicate that the meridional circulation undergoes substantial changes in morphology as the magnetic cycle unfolds. We close by discussing the importance of these dynamical changes for current methods of observation which involve long averaging periods of helioseismic data. Also noteworthy is the fact that these topological changes indicate a rich interaction between magnetic fields and plasma flows, which challenges the ubiquitous kinematic approach used in the vast majority of mean field dynamo simulations

A large ozone-circulation feedback and its implications for global warming assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Abraham, N. Luke; Maycock, Amanda C.; Braesicke, Peter; Gregory, Jonathan M.; Joshi, Manoj M.; Osprey, Annette; Pyle, John A.

2014-01-01

State-of-the-art climate models now include more climate processes which are simulated at higher spatial resolution than ever1. Nevertheless, some processes, such as atmospheric chemical feedbacks, are still computationally expensive and are often ignored in climate simulations1,2. Here we present evidence that how stratospheric ozone is represented in climate models can have a first order impact on estimates of effective climate sensitivity. Using a comprehensive atmosphere-ocean chemistry-climate model, we find an increase in global mean surface warming of around 1°C (~20%) after 75 years when ozone is prescribed at pre-industrial levels compared with when it is allowed to evolve self-consistently in response to an abrupt 4×CO2 forcing. The difference is primarily attributed to changes in longwave radiative feedbacks associated with circulation-driven decreases in tropical lower stratospheric ozone and related stratospheric water vapour and cirrus cloud changes. This has important implications for global model intercomparison studies1,2 in which participating models often use simplified treatments of atmospheric composition changes that are neither consistent with the specified greenhouse gas forcing scenario nor with the associated atmospheric circulation feedbacks3-5. PMID:25729440

The Circulation Distribution on the Lifting Line for a Given Extracted Power

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Helali

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Presently, there exist few numerical methods which treat the inverse problem for the determination of the geometry of wind turbine blades. In this work, authors intend to solve the inverse optimum project for horizontal axis wind turbine in which the selection of the circulation distribution is obtained by resolving two variational problems: the first consists in sorting the circulation distribution on the lifting line, which, for a given power extracted by the wind turbine, minimizes the loses due to the induced velocity. In the second, the optimal circulation distribution is selected such that the kinetic energy of the wind downstream of the rotor disc is minimum, when the energy extracted by the wind turbine for one rotating period is imposed. A code has been developed which incorporates the real pitch of the helicoidal vortex wake. Very promising results have been obtained: the circulation distribution for a given extracted power and the chord lengths distribution law along the blade span.

Validation of High Wind Retrievals from the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) Mission

Science.gov (United States)

McKague, D. S.; Ruf, C. S.; Balasubramaniam, R.; Clarizia, M. P.

2017-12-01

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission, launched in December of 2016, provides all-weather observations of sea surface winds. Using GPS-based bistatic reflectometry, the CYGNSS satellites can estimate sea surface winds even through a hurricane eye wall. This, combined with the high temporal resolution of the CYGNSS constellation (median revisit time of 2.8 hours), yields unprecedented ability to estimate hurricane strength winds. While there are a number of other sources of sea surface wind estimates, such as buoys, dropsondes, passive and active microwave from aircraft and satellite, and models, the combination of all-weather, high accuracy, short revisit time, high spatial coverage, and continuous operation of the CYGNSS mission enables significant advances in the understanding, monitoring, and prediction of cyclones. Validating CYGNSS wind retrievals over the bulk of the global wind speed distribution, which peaks at around 7 meters per second, is relatively straight-forward, requiring spatial-temporal matching of observations with independent sources (such as those mentioned above). Validating CYGNSS wind retrievals for "high" winds (> 20 meters per second), though, is problematic. Such winds occur only in intense storms. While infrequent, making validation opportunities also infrequent and problematic due to their intense nature, such storms are important to study because of the high potential for damage and loss of life. This presentation will describe the efforts of the CYGNSS Calibration/Validation team to gather measurements of high sea surface winds for development and validation of the CYGNSS geophysical model function (GMF), which forms the basis of retrieving winds from CYGNSS observations. The bulk of these observations come from buoy measurements as well as aircraft ("hurricane hunter") measurements from passive microwave and dropsondes. These data are matched in space and time to CYGNSS observations for training of the

From technology transfer to local manufacturing: China's emergence in the global wind power industry

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Joanna Ingram

This dissertation examines the development of China's large wind turbine industry, including the players, the status of the technology, and the strategies used to develop turbines for the Chinese market. The primary goals of this research project are to identify the models of international technology transfer that have been used among firms in China's wind power industry; examine to what extent these technology transfers have contributed to China's ability to locally manufacture large wind turbine technology; and evaluate China's ability to become a major player in the global wind industry. China is a particularly important place to study the opportunities for and dynamics of clean energy development due to its role in global energy consumption. China is the largest coal consuming and producing nation in the world, and consequently the second largest national emitter of carbon dioxide after only the United States. Energy consumption and carbon emissions are growing rapidly, and China is expected to surpass the US and become the largest energy consuming nation and carbon dioxide emitter in coming decades. The central finding of this dissertation is that even though each firm involved in the large wind turbine manufacturing industry in China has followed a very different pathway of technology procurement for the Chinese market, all of the firms are increasing the utilization of locally-manufactured components, and many are doing so without transferring turbine technology or the associated intellectual property. Only one fully Chinese-owned firm, Goldwind, has succeeded in developing a commercially available large wind turbine for the Chinese market. No Chinese firms or foreign firms are manufacturing turbines in China for export overseas, though many have stated plans to do so. There already exists a possible niche market for the smaller turbines that are currently being made in China, particularly in less developed countries that are looking for less expensive

Effects of trade-wind strength and direction on the leeside circulations and rainfall of the island of Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Yang Yang; Yi-Leng Chen; Francis M. Fujioka

2009-01-01

The leeside circulations and weather of the island of Hawaii were studied from the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) land surface model simulations for eight strong (∼7.9 m s−1) and eight weak (∼5.2 m s−1) trade-wind days and for five days with southeasterly trades (∼7.1 m s

The Sinuosity of Atmospheric Circulation over North America and its Relationship to Arctic Climate Change and Extreme Events

Science.gov (United States)

Vavrus, S. J.; Wang, F.; Martin, J. E.; Francis, J. A.

2015-12-01

Recent research has suggested a relationship between mid-latitude weather and Arctic amplification (AA) of global climate change via a slower and wavier extratropical circulation inducing more extreme events. To test this hypothesis and to quantify the waviness of the extratropical flow, we apply a novel application of the geomorphological concept of sinuosity (SIN) over greater North America. SIN is defined as the ratio of the curvilinear length of a geopotential height contour to the perimeter of its equivalent latitude, where the contour and the equivalent latitude enclose the same area. We use 500 hPa daily heights from reanalysis and model simulations to calculate past and future SIN. The circulation exhibits a distinct annual cycle of maximum SIN (waviness) in summer and a minimum in winter, inversely related to the annual cycle of zonal wind speed. Positive trends in SIN have emerged in recent decades during winter and summer at several latitude bands, generally collocated with negative trends in zonal wind speeds. High values of SIN coincide with many prominent extreme-weather events, including Superstorm Sandy. RCP8.5 simulations (2006-2100) project a dipole pattern of zonal wind changes that varies seasonally. In winter, AA causes inflated heights over the Arctic relative to mid-latitudes and an associated weakening (strengthening) of the westerlies north (south) of 40N. The AA signal in summer is strongest over upper-latitude land, promoting localized atmospheric ridging aloft with lighter westerlies to the south and stronger zonal winds to the north. The changes in wind speeds in both seasons are inversely correlated with SIN, indicating a wavier circulation where the flow weakens. In summer the lighter winds over much of the U. S. resemble circulation anomalies observed during extreme summer heat and drought. Such changes may be linked to enhanced heating of upper-latitude land surfaces caused by earlier snow melt during spring-summer.

Centennial-Scale Relationship Between the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds and Temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Hodgson, D. A.; Perren, B.; Roberts, S. J.; Sime, L. C.; Verleyen, E.; Van Nieuwenhuyze, W.; Vyverman, W.

2017-12-01

Recent changes in the intensity and position of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (SHW) have been implicated in a number of important physical changes in the Southern High Latitudes. These include changes in the efficiency of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink through alterations in ocean circulation, the loss of Antarctic ice shelves through enhanced basal melting, changes in Antarctic sea ice extent, and warming of the Antarctic Peninsula. Many of these changes have far-reaching implications for global climate and sea level rise. Despite the importance of the SHW in global climate, our current understanding of the past and future behaviour of the westerly winds is limited by relatively few reconstructions and measurements of the SHW in their core belt over the Antarctic Circumpolar Current; the region most relevant to Southern Ocean air-sea gas exchange. The aim of this study was to reconstruct changes in the relative strength of the SHW at Marion Island, one of a small number of sub-Antarctic islands that lie in the core of the SHWs. We applied independent diatom- and geochemistry- based methods to track past changes in relative wind intensity. This mutiproxy approach provides a validation that the proxies are responding to the external forcing (the SHW) rather than local (e.g. precipitation ) or internal dynamics. Results show that that the strength of the SHW are intrinsically linked to extratropical temperatures over centennial timescales, with warmer temperatures driving stronger winds. Our findings also suggest that large variations in the path and intensity of the westerly winds are driven by relatively small variations in temperature over these timescales. This means that with continued climate warming, even in the absence of anthropogenic ozone-depletion, we should anticipate large shifts in the SHW, causing stronger, more poleward-intensified winds in the decades and centuries to come, with attendant impacts on ocean circulation, ice shelf stability, and

Estimate of the largest Lyapunov characteristic exponent of a high dimensional atmospheric global circulation model: a sensitivity analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerrieri, A.

2009-01-01

In this report the largest Lyapunov characteristic exponent of a high dimensional atmospheric global circulation model of intermediate complexity has been estimated numerically. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out by varying the equator-to-pole temperature difference, the space resolution and the value of some parameters employed by the model. Chaotic and non-chaotic regimes of circulation have been found. [it

Barotropic Eulerian residual circulation in the Gulf of California due to the M{sub 2} tide and wind stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Argote, M. L.; Lavin, M. F.; Amador, A. [Departamento de Oceanografia Fisica, CICESE, Ensenada, Baja California (Mexico)

1998-07-01

A vertically integrated, non-linear numerical model in finite differences is used to analyze two forcing mechanisms of the mean barotropic circulation in the Gulf of California: topographic rectification due to tidal currents (M{sub 2}) and wind stress. Under tidal forcing the nonlinearities of the momentum equations induce unorganized strong tidal induced residual currents (u{sub e} > 5 cm s{sup -}1) in the channels between the islands, and along-isobath anticyclonic circulation in the Northern Gulf, with speeds u{sub 3} < 2.5 cm s{sup -}1 over the edge of Delfin Basin. These numerical results are in agreement with analytical results, which indicate that the tidal-induced currents are mostly due to the advective terms, and that continuity and the Coriolis term (but regulated by bottom friction) are responsible for the along-isobath flow. The quadratic bottom friction plays a role in generating mean currents only in the very shallow area off the Colorado River Delta. The effect of wind stress was modeled by imposing upon the running M{sub 2} model a constant surface stress ( r = 0.016 Pa), from the NW for winter conditions and from the SE for summer conditions. The wind-induced circulation was obtained by averaging over a tidal cycle and then subtracting the tidal residuals. The two wind directions produce almost identical circulation patterns, but with opposite directions. For the NW wind stress, the main features of the predicted circulation are: (a) In the Northern Gulf an anticyclonic circulation pattern, with the strongest currents (up to {approx} 10 cm s-1) following the bathymetry of the rim of Delfin Basin, Wagner Basin and the mainland coast off Bahia Adair and Bahia San Jorge. There is also a southward flow along the peninsula coast, from the Colorado River to Bahia San Luis Gonzaga. (b) In the Southern Gulf, there is a strong flow ({approx} 10 to 15 cm s{sup -}1) to the SE over the continental shelf along the mainland coast. A somewhat less well

Prediction of Typhoon Wind Speeds under Global Warming Conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choun, Young Sun; Kim, Min Kyu; Kang, Ju Whan; Kim, Yang Seon

2016-01-01

The continuous increase of SST by global warming conditions in the western North Pacific Ocean results in an increased occurrence of supertyphoons in East Asia and the Korean Peninsula. Recent numerical experiments have found that the central pressures of two historical typhoons, Maemi (2003) and Rusa (2002), which recorded the highest storm surges along the coasts of the Korean Peninsula, dropped about 19 and 17 hPa, respectively, when considering the future SST (a warming of 3.9 .deg. C for 100 years) over the East China Sea. The maximum wind speeds increase under global warming conditions. The probability of occurrence of super-typhoons increases in the future. The estimated return period for supertyphoons affecting the Younggwang site is about 1,000,000 years.

Prediction of Typhoon Wind Speeds under Global Warming Conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choun, Young Sun; Kim, Min Kyu [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Ju Whan; Kim, Yang Seon [Mokpo National University, Muan (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

The continuous increase of SST by global warming conditions in the western North Pacific Ocean results in an increased occurrence of supertyphoons in East Asia and the Korean Peninsula. Recent numerical experiments have found that the central pressures of two historical typhoons, Maemi (2003) and Rusa (2002), which recorded the highest storm surges along the coasts of the Korean Peninsula, dropped about 19 and 17 hPa, respectively, when considering the future SST (a warming of 3.9 .deg. C for 100 years) over the East China Sea. The maximum wind speeds increase under global warming conditions. The probability of occurrence of super-typhoons increases in the future. The estimated return period for supertyphoons affecting the Younggwang site is about 1,000,000 years.

Local and regional effects of large scale atmospheric circulation patterns on winter wind power output in Western Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Zubiate, Laura; McDermott, Frank; Sweeney, Conor; O'Malley, Mark

2014-05-01

Recent studies (Brayshaw, 2009, Garcia-Bustamante, 2010, Garcia-Bustamante, 2013) have drawn attention to the sensitivity of wind speed distributions and likely wind energy power output in Western Europe to changes in low-frequency, large scale atmospheric circulation patterns such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Wind speed variations and directional shifts as a function of the NAO state can be larger or smaller depending on the North Atlantic region that is considered. Wind speeds in Ireland and the UK for example are approximately 20 % higher during NAO + phases, and up to 30 % lower during NAO - phases relative to the long-term (30 year) climatological means. By contrast, in southern Europe, wind speeds are 15 % lower than average during NAO + phases and 15 % higher than average during NAO - phases. Crucially however, some regions such as Brittany in N.W. France have been identified in which there is negligible variability in wind speeds as a function of the NAO phase, as observed in the ERA-Interim 0.5 degree gridded reanalysis database. However, the magnitude of these effects on wind conditions is temporally and spatially non-stationary. As described by Comas-Bru and McDermott (2013) for temperature and precipitation, such non-stationarity is caused by the influence of two other patterns, the East Atlantic pattern, (EA), and the Scandinavian pattern, (SCA), which modulate the position of the NAO dipole. This phenomenon has also implications for wind speeds and directions, which has been assessed using the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset and the indices obtained from the PC analysis of sea level pressure over the Atlantic region. In order to study the implications for power production, the interaction of the NAO and the other teleconnection patterns with local topography was also analysed, as well as how these interactions ultimately translate into wind power output. The objective is to have a better defined relationship between wind speed and power

Seasonal overturning circulation in the Red Sea: 1. Model validation and summer circulation

KAUST Repository

Yao, Fengchao; Hoteit, Ibrahim; Pratt, Larry J.; Bower, Amy S.; Zhai, Ping; Kö hl, Armin; Gopalakrishnan, Ganesh

2014-01-01

The overturning circulation in the Red Sea exhibits a distinct seasonally reversing pattern and is studied using high-resolution MIT general circulation model simulations. In the first part of this study, the vertical and horizontal structure of the summer overturning circulation and its dynamical mechanisms are presented from the model results. The seasonal water exchange in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb is successfully simulated, and the structures of the intruding subsurface Gulf of Aden intermediate water are in good agreement with summer observations in 2011. The model results suggest that the summer overturning circulation is driven by the combined effect of the shoaling of the thermocline in the Gulf of Aden resulting from remote winds in the Arabian Sea and an upward surface slope from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden set up by local surface winds in the Red Sea. In addition, during late summer two processes associated, respectively, with latitudinally differential heating and increased salinity in the southern Red Sea act together to cause the reversal of the contrast of the vertical density structure and the cessation of the summer overturning circulation. Dynamically, the subsurface northward pressure gradient force is mainly balanced by vertical viscosity resulting from the vertical shear and boundary friction in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb. Unlike some previous studies, the three-layer summer exchange flows in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb do not appear to be hydraulically controlled.

Seasonal overturning circulation in the Red Sea: 1. Model validation and summer circulation

KAUST Repository

Yao, Fengchao

2014-04-01

The overturning circulation in the Red Sea exhibits a distinct seasonally reversing pattern and is studied using high-resolution MIT general circulation model simulations. In the first part of this study, the vertical and horizontal structure of the summer overturning circulation and its dynamical mechanisms are presented from the model results. The seasonal water exchange in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb is successfully simulated, and the structures of the intruding subsurface Gulf of Aden intermediate water are in good agreement with summer observations in 2011. The model results suggest that the summer overturning circulation is driven by the combined effect of the shoaling of the thermocline in the Gulf of Aden resulting from remote winds in the Arabian Sea and an upward surface slope from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden set up by local surface winds in the Red Sea. In addition, during late summer two processes associated, respectively, with latitudinally differential heating and increased salinity in the southern Red Sea act together to cause the reversal of the contrast of the vertical density structure and the cessation of the summer overturning circulation. Dynamically, the subsurface northward pressure gradient force is mainly balanced by vertical viscosity resulting from the vertical shear and boundary friction in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb. Unlike some previous studies, the three-layer summer exchange flows in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb do not appear to be hydraulically controlled.

Key aspects of stratospheric tracer modeling using assimilated winds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Bregman

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This study describes key aspects of global chemistry-transport models and their impact on stratospheric tracer transport. We concentrate on global models that use assimilated winds from numerical weather predictions, but the results also apply to tracer transport in general circulation models. We examined grid resolution, numerical diffusion, air parcel dispersion, the wind or mass flux update frequency, and time interpolation. The evaluation is performed with assimilated meteorology from the "operational analyses or operational data" (OD from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF. We also show the effect of the mass flux update frequency using the ECMWF 40-year re-analyses (ERA40. We applied the three-dimensional chemistry-transport Tracer Model version 5 (TM5 and a trajectory model and performed several diagnoses focusing on different transport regimes. Covering different time and spatial scales, we examined (1 polar vortex dynamics during the Arctic winter, (2 the large-scale stratospheric meridional circulation, and (3 air parcel dispersion in the tropical lower stratosphere. Tracer distributions inside the Arctic polar vortex show considerably worse agreement with observations when the model grid resolution in the polar region is reduced to avoid numerical instability. The results are sensitive to the diffusivity of the advection. Nevertheless, the use of a computational cheaper but diffusive advection scheme is feasible for tracer transport when the horizontal grid resolution is equal or smaller than 1 degree. The use of time interpolated winds improves the tracer distributions, particularly in the middle and upper stratosphere. Considerable improvement is found both in the large-scale tracer distribution and in the polar regions when the update frequency of the assimilated winds is increased from 6 to 3 h. It considerably reduces the vertical dispersion of air parcels in the tropical lower stratosphere. Strong

The influence of tropical wind data on the analysis and forecasts of the GLAS GCM for the Global Weather Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Paegle, J.; Baker, W. E.

1985-01-01

Several densities of tropical divergent wind data were included in a fourth-order GCM to examine the effects on the accuracy of the model predictions. The experiments covered assimilation of all available tropical wind data, no tropical wind data between 20 deg N and 20 deg S, only westerly tropical wind data and only easterly tropical wind data. The predictions were all made for the 200 mb upper troposphere. Elimination of tropical data produced excessively strong upper tropospheric westerlies which in turn amplified the globally integrated rotational flow kinetic energy by around 10 percent and doubled the global divergent flow kinetic energy. Retaining only easterly wind data, ameliorated most of the error. Inclusion of all the tropical wind data however, did not lead to overall positive effects, as the data were linked to tropical wave energetics and ageostrophic winds which were already assimilated in the model.

Diagnostics of the Solar Wind and Global Heliosphere with Lyman-α Emission Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Provornikova, E. P.; Izmodenov, V. V.; Laming, J. M.; Strachan, L.; Wood, B. E.; Katushkina, O. A.; Ko, Y.-K.; Tun Beltran, S.; Chakrabarti, S.

2018-02-01

We propose to develop an instrument measuring full sky intensity maps and spectra of interplanetary Lyman-α emission to reveal the global solar wind variability and the nature of the heliosphere and the local interstellar medium.

Identification of circulating miRNA biomarkers based on global quantitative real-time PCR profiling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kang Kang

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs (18-25 nucleotides that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Recent studies have demonstrated the presence of miRNAs in the blood circulation. Deregulation of miRNAs in serum or plasma has been associated with many diseases including cancers and cardiovascular diseases, suggesting the possible use of miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers. However, the detection of the small amount of miRNAs found in serum or plasma requires a method with high sensitivity and accuracy. Therefore, the current study describes polymerase chain reaction (PCR-based methods for measuring circulating miRNAs. Briefly, the procedure involves four major steps: (1 sample collection and preparation; (2 global miRNAs profiling using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR; (3 data normalization and analysis; and (4 selection and validation of miRNA biomarkers. In conclusion, qRT-PCR is a promising method for profiling of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers.

Forcing mechanisms of the Bay of Bengal circulation

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Vinayachandran, P.N.; Shetye, S.R.; Sengupta, D.; Gadgil, S.

A state-of-the-art ocean general circulation model, set up for the North Indian Ocean and driven by climatological wind stress simulates most of the observed features of the near-surface circulation of the Bay of Bengal. The prominent features...

An Oceanic General Circulation Model (OGCM) investigation of the Red Sea circulation: 2. Three-dimensional circulation in the Red Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Sofianos, Sarantis S.; Johns, William E.

2003-03-01

The three-dimensional circulation of the Red Sea is studied using a set of Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM) simulations. The model performance is tested against the few available observations in the basin and shows generally good agreement with the main observed features of the circulation. The main findings of this analysis include an intensification of the along-axis flow toward the coasts, with a transition from western intensified boundary flow in the south to eastern intensified flow in the north, and a series of strong seasonal or permanent eddy-like features. Model experiments conducted with different forcing fields (wind-stress forcing only, surface buoyancy forcing only, or both forcings combined) showed that the circulation produced by the buoyancy forcing is stronger overall and dominates the wind-driven part of the circulation. The main circulation pattern is related to the seasonal buoyancy flux (mostly due to the evaporation), which causes the density to increase northward in the basin and produces a northward surface pressure gradient associated with the downward sloping of the sea surface. The response of the eastern boundary to the associated mean cross-basin geostrophic current depends on the stratification and β-effect. In the northern part of the basin this results in an eastward intensification of the northward surface flow associated with the presence of Kelvin waves while in the south the traditional westward intensification due to Rossby waves takes place. The most prominent gyre circulation pattern occurs in the north where a permanent cyclonic gyre is present that is involved in the formation of Red Sea Outflow Water (RSOW). Beneath the surface boundary currents are similarly intensified southward undercurrents that carry the RSOW to the sill to flow out of the basin into the Indian Ocean.

Uranus atmospheric dynamics and circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Allison, Michael; Beebe, Reta F.; Conrath, Barney J.; Hinson, David P.; Ingersoll, Andrew P.

1991-01-01

The observations, models, and theories relevant to the atmospheric dynamics and meteorology of Uranus are discussed. The available models for the large-scale heat transport and atmospheric dynamics as well as diagnostic interpretations of the Voyager data are reviewed. Some pertinent ideas and questions regarding the global circulation balance are considered, partly in comparison with other planetary atmospheres. The available data indicate atmospheric rotation at midlatitudes nearly 200 m/s faster than that of the planetary magnetic field. Analysis of the dynamical deformation of the shape and size of isobaric surfaces measured by the Voyager radio-occultation experiment suggests a subrotating equator at comparable altitudes. Infrared temperature retrievals above the cloud deck indicate a smaller equator-to-pole contrast than expected for purely radiative-convective equilibrium, but show local variations implying a latitudinally correlated decrease with altitude in the cloud-tracked wind.

The vulnerability of wind power to climate change in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pereira de Lucena, Andre Frossard; Szklo, Alexandre Salem; Schaeffer, Roberto; Dutra, Ricardo Marques

2010-01-01

The availability and reliability of wind power depend a great deal on current and future climate conditions, which may vary in light of possible global climate change (GCC). Long-term energy planning, however, does not normally take possible future GCC into consideration, which may turn out to be a risky exercise. In the case of Brazil, the untapped wind power potential is known to be impressive, provided that climate conditions remain the same over time. The focus of this study is to analyze some possible impacts of GCC on the wind power potential of Brazil, by simulating wind conditions associated with the IPCC A2 and B2 Scenarios. Results based on the HadCM3 general circulation model and the analysis of the country's wind database indicate that the wind power potential in Brazil would not be jeopardized in the future due to possible new climate conditions. On the contrary, improved wind conditions are expected, particularly in the Northeast coast of the country. Therefore, investments in wind power generation can be an interesting way to expand renewable energy production in Brazil. However, given the large uncertainties associated with GCC models and scenarios, the findings of this paper should be viewed as a possibility rather than as a projection. (author)

Application of global weather and climate model output to the design and operation of wind-energy systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Curry, Judith [Climate Forecast Applications Network, Atlanta, GA (United States)

2015-05-21

This project addressed the challenge of providing weather and climate information to support the operation, management and planning for wind-energy systems. The need for forecast information is extending to longer projection windows with increasing penetration of wind power into the grid and also with diminishing reserve margins to meet peak loads during significant weather events. Maintenance planning and natural gas trading is being influenced increasingly by anticipation of wind generation on timescales of weeks to months. Future scenarios on decadal time scales are needed to support assessment of wind farm siting, government planning, long-term wind purchase agreements and the regulatory environment. The challenge of making wind forecasts on these longer time scales is associated with a wide range of uncertainties in general circulation and regional climate models that make them unsuitable for direct use in the design and planning of wind-energy systems. To address this challenge, CFAN has developed a hybrid statistical/dynamical forecasting scheme for delivering probabilistic forecasts on time scales from one day to seven months using what is arguably the best forecasting system in the world (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, ECMWF). The project also provided a framework to assess future wind power through developing scenarios of interannual to decadal climate variability and change. The Phase II research has successfully developed an operational wind power forecasting system for the U.S., which is being extended to Europe and possibly Asia.

General circulation model study of atmospheric carbon monoxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinto, J.P.; Yung, Y.L.; Rind, D.; Russell, G.L.; Lerner, J.A.; Hansen, J.E.; Hameed, S.

1983-01-01

The carbon monoxide cycle is studied by incorporating the known and hypothetical sources and sinks in a tracer model that uses the winds generated by a general circulation model. Photochemical production and loss terms, which depend on OH radical concentrations, are calculated in an interactive fashion. The computed global distribution and seasonal variations of CO are compared with observations to obtain constraints on the distribution and magnitude of the sources and sinks of CO, and on the tropospheric abundance of OH. The simplest model that accounts for available observations requires a low latitude plant source of about 1.3 x 10 15 g yr -1 , in addition to sources from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and oxidation of methane. The globally averaged OH concentration calculated in the model is 7 x 10 5 cm -3 . Models that calculate globally averaged OH concentrations much lower than our nominal value are not consistent with the observed variability of CO. Such models are also inconsistent with measurements of CO isotopic abundances, which imply the existence of plant sources

Effect of ocean gateways on the global ocean circulation in the late Oligocene and early Miocene

NARCIS (Netherlands)

von der Heydt, A.S.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/245567526; Dijkstra, H.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/073504467

2006-01-01

We investigate the effect of changes in the tectonic boundary conditions on global ocean circulation patterns. Using a fully coupled climate model in an idealized setup, we compare situations corresponding to the late Oligocene, the early Miocene, and present day. The model results show the

Plurilingual reading practices in a global context: Circulation of books and linguistic inequalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marie Rivière

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Media consumption is commonly seen as a major way of appropriating languages and cultures. Availability and accessibility of material are essential conditions for developing plurilingual cultural practices. Transnational circulation of cultural goods has reached a particular intensity in today’s world but is still marked by deep language inequalities. Combining sociolinguistic, language education, cultural sociology, and multiliteracy approaches, this study examines how plurilingual readers access books in their different languages. This qualitative analysis is based on 24 in-depth interviews with both migrant and non-migrant adults living in Western Europe. The findings indicate that printed and digital books in dominant languages circulate more easily, and through more visible and formal channels than books in dominated languages. In addition, the local and online book supply in dominant languages is generally cheaper and more varied, thus being more attractive. However, a wider range of means of access to books, and the active participation of the readers themselves in the circulation of cultural goods enable book-reading practices in less disseminated languages. Pedagogical recommendations for language teachers to encourage autonomous cultural practices among learners according to global evolutions and local specificities are provided.

Wind's share in global energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madsen, B.T.

1997-01-01

The question of how great of a contribution wind power can really make to the world's energy needs is discussed. Emphasis up until recently has been mainly on improving wind turbine technology and siting practices as it is these that will provide an answer. The International Energy Agency predicts that world energy demand will increase by 30-50% by 2010. More countries than ever are either using wind power now or are preparing for its use. Wind power continues to improve its price competitiveness. There is enough wind to cover our energy needs many times over, according to some reports twice the world's electricity supply could be met by utilizing just 5-10% of areas identified as having average wind speeds of 5 m/s or greater - ignoring population centers, forests and specially protected areas. But a major limiting factor to utilizing the available wind resource is the established grid systems, which can only base 20% of supply on wind power. It is concluded that wind can contribute significantly to the world's energy needs in the next century and beyond. If wind, which has taken giant leaps in improving its competitiveness over the past 20 hears, can be a major energy contributor by early next century, other renewables such as solar and biomass might also evolve to become major contributors too. If so, renewables, including hydro, could conceivably cover 50% of our energy needs by the middle of the next century. Much will depend on decision-makers at the centers of power. For Europe and certain other areas of the world, policies governing cross-border trade of electricity as well as the framework for environmental protection related to energy production will determine the final outcome

Basin-scale wind transport during the MILAGRO field campaign and comparison to climatology using cluster analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. de Foy

2008-03-01

Full Text Available The MILAGRO field campaign was a multi-agency international collaborative project to evaluate the regional impacts of the Mexico City air pollution plume as a means of understanding urban impacts on the global climate. Mexico City lies on an elevated plateau with mountains on three sides and has complex mountain and surface-driven wind flows. This paper asks what the wind transport was in the basin during the field campaign and how representative it was of the climatology. Surface meteorology and air quality data, radiosondes and radar wind profiler data were collected at sites in the basin and its vicinity. Cluster analysis was used to identify the dominant wind patterns both during the campaign and within the past 10 years of operational data from the warm dry season. Our analysis shows that March 2006 was representative of typical flow patterns experienced in the basin. Six episode types were identified for the basin-scale circulation providing a way of interpreting atmospheric chemistry and particulate data collected during the campaign. Decoupling between surface winds and those aloft had a strong influence in leading to convection and poor air quality episodes. Hourly characterisation of wind circulation during the MILAGRO, MCMA-2003 and IMADA field campaigns enables the comparisons of similar air pollution episodes and the evaluation of the impact of wind transport on measurements of the atmospheric chemistry taking place in the basin.

Twentieth century Walker Circulation change: data analysis and model experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meng, Qingjia [Leibniz-Institut fuer Meereswissenschaften, Kiel (Germany); Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, River and Coastal Environment Research Center, Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Qingdao (China); Latif, Mojib; Park, Wonsun; Keenlyside, Noel S.; Martin, Thomas [Leibniz-Institut fuer Meereswissenschaften, Kiel (Germany); Semenov, Vladimir A. [Leibniz-Institut fuer Meereswissenschaften, Kiel (Germany); A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation)

2012-05-15

Recent studies indicate a weakening of the Walker Circulation during the twentieth century. Here, we present evidence from an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) forced by the history of observed sea surface temperature (SST) that the Walker Circulation may have intensified rather than weakened. Observed Equatorial Indo-Pacific Sector SST since 1870 exhibited a zonally asymmetric evolution: While the eastern part of the Equatorial Pacific showed only a weak warming, or even cooling in one SST dataset, the western part and the Equatorial Indian Ocean exhibited a rather strong warming. This has resulted in an increase of the SST gradient between the Maritime Continent and the eastern part of the Equatorial Pacific, one driving force of the Walker Circulation. The ensemble experiments with the AGCM, with and without time-varying external forcing, suggest that the enhancement of the SST gradient drove an anomalous atmospheric circulation, with an enhancement of both Walker and Hadley Circulation. Anomalously strong precipitation is simulated over the Indian Ocean and anomalously weak precipitation over the western Pacific, with corresponding changes in the surface wind pattern. Some sensitivity to the forcing SST, however, is noticed. The analysis of twentieth century integrations with global climate models driven with observed radiative forcing obtained from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) database support the link between the SST gradient and Walker Circulation strength. Furthermore, control integrations with the CMIP models indicate the existence of strong internal variability on centennial timescales. The results suggest that a radiatively forced signal in the Walker Circulation during the twentieth century may have been too weak to be detectable. (orig.)

Sino-Danish Brain Circulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø; Du, Xiangyun; Søndergaard, Morten Karnøe

2014-01-01

China is faced with urgent needs to develop an economically and environmentally sustainable economy based on innovation and knowledge. Brain circulation and research and business investments from the outside are central for this development. Sino-American brain circulation and research...... and investment by overseas researchers and entrepreneurs are well described. In that case, the US is the center of global R&D and S&T. However, the brain circulation and research and investments between a small open Scandinavian economy, such as Denmark, and the huge developing economy of China are not well...... understood. In this case, Denmark is very highly developed, but a satellite in the global R&D and S&T system. With time and the growth of China as a R&D and S&T power house, both Denmark and China will benefit from brain circulation between them. Such brain circulation is likely to play a key role in flows...

Diurnal variability of inner-shelf circulation in the lee of a cape under upwelling conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Lamas, L.; Peliz, A.; Dias, J.; Oliveira, P. B.; Angélico, M. M.; Castro, J. J.; Fernandes, J. N.; Trindade, A.; Cruz, T.

2017-07-01

The nearshore circulation in the lee of a cape under upwelling conditions was studied using in-situ data from 3 consecutive summers (2006-2008). Focus was given to a period between 20 July and 04 August 2006 to study the diurnal variability of the cross-shelf circulation. This period was chosen because it had a steady upwelling-favourable wind condition modulated by a diurnal cycle much similar to sea breeze. The daily variability of the observed cross-shelf circulation consisted of three distinct periods: a morning period with a 3-layer vertical structure with onshore velocities at mid-depth, a mid-day period where the flow is reversed and has a 2-layer structure with onshore velocities at the surface and offshore flow below, and, lastly, in the evening, a 2-layer period with intensified offshore velocities at the surface and onshore flow at the bottom. The observed cross-shelf circulation showed a peculiar vertical shape and diurnal variability different from several other systems described in literature. We hypothesize that the flow reversal of the cross-shelf circulation results as a response to the rapid change of the wind magnitude and direction at mid-day with the presence of the cape north of the mooring site influencing this response. A numerical modelling experiment exclusively forced by winds simulated successfully most of the circulation at the ADCP site, especially the mid-day reversal and the evening's upwelling-type structure. This supports the hypothesis that the cross-shelf circulation at diurnal timescales is mostly wind-driven. By analysing the 3D circulation in the vicinity of Cape Sines we came to the conclusion that the diurnal variability of the wind and the flow interaction with topography are responsible for the circulation variability at the ADCP site, though only a small region in the south of the cape showed a similar diurnal variability. The fact that the wind diurnally undergoes relaxation and intensification strongly affects the

Numerical Analysis of the Effect of Active Wind Speed and Direction on Circulation of Sea of Azov Water with and without Allowance for the Water Exchange through the Kerch Strait

Science.gov (United States)

Cherkesov, L. V.; Shul'ga, T. Ya.

2018-01-01

The effect of seawater movement through the Kerch Strait for extreme deviations in the level and speed of currents in the Sea of Azov caused by the action of climate wind fields has been studied using the Princeton ocean model (POM), a general three-dimensional nonlinear model of ocean circulation. Formation of the water flow through the strait is caused by the long-term action of the same type of atmospheric processes. The features of the water dynamics under conditions of changing intensity and active wind direction have been studied. Numerical experiments were carried out for two versions of model Sea of Azov basins: closed (without the Kerch Strait) and with a fluid boundary located in the Black Sea. The simulation results have shown that allowance for the strait leads to a significant change in the velocities of steady currents and level deviations at wind speeds greater than 5 m/s. The most significant effect on the parameters of steady-state movements is exerted by the speed of the wind that generates them; allowance for water exchange through the strait is less important. Analysis of the directions of atmospheric circulation has revealed that the response generated by the movement of water through the strait is most pronounced when a southeast wind is acting.

An Initial Assessment of the Impact of CYGNSS Ocean Surface Wind Assimilation on Navy Global and Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, N. L.; Tsu, J.; Swadley, S. D.

2017-12-01

We assess the impact of assimilation of CYclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) ocean surface winds observations into the NAVGEM[i] global and COAMPS®[ii] mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. Both NAVGEM and COAMPS® used the NRL 4DVar assimilation system NAVDAS-AR[iii]. Long term monitoring of the NAVGEM Forecast Sensitivity Observation Impact (FSOI) indicates that the forecast error reduction for ocean surface wind vectors (ASCAT and WindSat) are significantly larger than for SSMIS wind speed observations. These differences are larger than can be explained by simply two pieces of information (for wind vectors) versus one (wind speed). To help understand these results, we conducted a series of Observing System Experiments (OSEs) to compare the assimilation of ASCAT wind vectors with the equivalent (computed) ASCAT wind speed observations. We found that wind vector assimilation was typically 3 times more effective at reducing the NAVGEM forecast error, with a higher percentage of beneficial observations. These results suggested that 4DVar, in the absence of an additional nonlinear outer loop, has limited ability to modify the analysis wind direction. We examined several strategies for assimilating CYGNSS ocean surface wind speed observations. In the first approach, we assimilated CYGNSS as wind speed observations, following the same methodology used for SSMIS winds. The next two approaches converted CYGNSS wind speed to wind vectors, using NAVGEM sea level pressure fields (following Holton, 1979), and using NAVGEM 10-m wind fields with the AER Variational Analysis Method. Finally, we compared these methods to CYGNSS wind speed assimilation using multiple outer loops with NAVGEM Hybrid 4DVar. Results support the earlier studies suggesting that NAVDAS-AR wind speed assimilation is sub-optimal. We present detailed results from multi-month NAVGEM assimilation runs along with case studies using COAMPS®. Comparisons include the fit of

Estonian wind climate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kull, Ain

1999-01-01

Estonia is situated on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. This is a region with intensive cyclonic activity and therefore with a relatively high mean wind speed. Atmospheric circulation and its seasonal variation determine the general character of the Estonian wind regime over the Atlantic Ocean and Eurasia. However, the Baltic sea itself is a very important factor affecting wind climate, it has an especially strong influence on the wind regime in costal areas. The mean energy density (W/m 2 ) is a wind energy characteristic that is proportional to the third power of wind speed and describes energy available in a flow of air through a unit area. The mean energy density is a characteristic which has practical importance in regional assessment of snowdrift, storm damage and wind energy

Satellite Observations of Imprint of Oceanic Current on Wind Stress by Air-Sea Coupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Renault, Lionel; McWilliams, James C; Masson, Sebastien

2017-12-18

Mesoscale eddies are present everywhere in the ocean and partly determine the mean state of the circulation and ecosystem. The current feedback on the surface wind stress modulates the air-sea transfer of momentum by providing a sink of mesoscale eddy energy as an atmospheric source. Using nine years of satellite measurements of surface stress and geostrophic currents over the global ocean, we confirm that the current-induced surface stress curl is linearly related to the current vorticity. The resulting coupling coefficient between current and surface stress (s τ [N s m -3 ]) is heterogeneous and can be roughly expressed as a linear function of the mean surface wind. s τ expresses the sink of eddy energy induced by the current feedback. This has important implications for air-sea interaction and implies that oceanic mean and mesoscale circulations and their effects on surface-layer ventilation and carbon uptake are better represented in oceanic models that include this feedback.

A global hybrid coupled model based on atmosphere-SST feedbacks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cimatoribus, Andrea A.; Drijfhout, Sybren S. [Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt (Netherlands); Dijkstra, Henk A. [Utrecht University, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2012-02-15

A global hybrid coupled model is developed, with the aim of studying the effects of ocean-atmosphere feedbacks on the stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. The model includes a global ocean general circulation model and a statistical atmosphere model. The statistical atmosphere model is based on linear regressions of data from a fully coupled climate model on sea surface temperature both locally and hemispherically averaged, being the footprint of Atlantic meridional overturning variability. It provides dynamic boundary conditions to the ocean model for heat, freshwater and wind-stress. A basic but consistent representation of ocean-atmosphere feedbacks is captured in the hybrid coupled model and it is more than 10 times faster than the fully coupled climate model. The hybrid coupled model reaches a steady state with a climate close to the one of the fully coupled climate model, and the two models also have a similar response (collapse) of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to a freshwater hosing applied in the northern North Atlantic. (orig.)

Global warming and climate forcing by recent albedo changes on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Fenton, L.K.; Geissler, P.E.; Haberle, R.M.

2007-01-01

For hundreds of years, scientists have tracked the changing appearance of Mars, first by hand drawings and later by photographs. Because of this historical record, many classical albedo patterns have long been known to shift in appearance over time. Decadal variations of the martian surface albedo are generally attributed to removal and deposition of small amounts of relatively bright dust on the surface. Large swaths of the surface (up to 56 million km2) have been observed to darken or brighten by 10 per cent or more. It is unknown, however, how these albedo changes affect wind circulation, dust transport and the feedback between these processes and the martian climate. Here we present predictions from a Mars general circulation model, indicating that the observed interannual albedo alterations strongly influence the martian environment. Results indicate enhanced wind stress in recently darkened areas and decreased wind stress in brightened areas, producing a positive feedback system in which the albedo changes strengthen the winds that generate the changes. The simulations also predict a net annual global warming of surface air temperatures by ???0.65 K, enhancing dust lifting by increasing the likelihood of dust devil generation. The increase in global dust lifting by both wind stress and dust devils may affect the mechanisms that trigger large dust storm initiation, a poorly understood phenomenon, unique to Mars. In addition, predicted increases in summertime air temperatures at high southern latitudes would contribute to the rapid and steady scarp retreat that has been observed in the south polar residual ice for the past four Mars years. Our results suggest that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars, and thus albedo variations are a necessary component of future atmospheric and climate studies. ??2007 Nature Publishing Group.

Influence of the solar wind and IMF on Jupiter's magnetosphere: Results from global MHD simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkango, Y.; Jia, X.; Toth, G.; Hansen, K. C.

2017-12-01

Due to its large size, rapid rotation and presence of substantial internal plasma sources, Jupiter's magnetosphere is fundamentally different from that of the Earth. How and to what extent do the external factors, such as the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), influence the internally-driven magnetosphere is an open question. In this work, we solve the 3D semi-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations using a well-established code, BATSRUS, to model the Jovian magnetosphere and study its interaction with the solar wind. Our global model adopts a non-uniform mesh covering the region from 200 RJ upstream to 1800 RJ downstream with the inner boundary placed at a radial distance of 2.5 RJ. The Io plasma torus centered around 6 RJ is generated in our model through appropriate mass-loading terms added to the set of MHD equations. We perform systematic numerical experiments in which we vary the upstream solar wind properties to investigate the impact of solar wind events, such as interplanetary shock and IMF rotation, on the global magnetosphere. From our simulations, we extract the location of the magnetopause boundary, the bow shock and the open-closed field line boundary (OCB), and determine their dependence on the solar wind properties and the IMF orientation. For validation, we compare our simulation results, such as density, temperature and magnetic field, to published empirical models based on in-situ measurements.

Annual and seasonal tornado activity in the United States and the global wind oscillation

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Todd W.

2018-06-01

Previous studies have searched for relationships between tornado activity and atmospheric teleconnections to provide insight on the relationship between tornadoes, their environments, and larger scale patterns in the climate system. Knowledge of these relationships is practical because it can improve seasonal and sub-seasonal predictions of tornado probability and, therefore, help mitigate tornado-related losses. This study explores the relationships between the annual and seasonal tornado activity in the United States and the Global Wind Oscillation. Time series herein show that phases of the Global Wind Oscillation, and atmospheric angular momentum anomalies, vary over a period of roughly 20-25 years. Rank correlations indicate that tornado activity is weakly correlated with phases 2, 3, and 4 (positive) and 6, 7, and 8 (negative) of the Global Wind Oscillation in winter, spring, and fall. The correlation is not as clear in summer or at the annual scale. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests indicate that winters and springs with more phase 2, 3, and 4 and fewer phase 6, 7, and 8 days tend to have more tornadoes. Lastly, logistic regression models indicate that winters and springs with more phase 2, 3, and 4 days have greater likelihoods of having more than normal tornado activity. Combined, these analyses suggest that seasons with more low atmospheric angular momentum days, or phase 2, 3, and 4 days, tend to have greater tornado activity than those with fewer days, and that this relationship is most evident in winter and spring.

Annual and seasonal tornado activity in the United States and the global wind oscillation

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Todd W.

2017-08-01

Previous studies have searched for relationships between tornado activity and atmospheric teleconnections to provide insight on the relationship between tornadoes, their environments, and larger scale patterns in the climate system. Knowledge of these relationships is practical because it can improve seasonal and sub-seasonal predictions of tornado probability and, therefore, help mitigate tornado-related losses. This study explores the relationships between the annual and seasonal tornado activity in the United States and the Global Wind Oscillation. Time series herein show that phases of the Global Wind Oscillation, and atmospheric angular momentum anomalies, vary over a period of roughly 20-25 years. Rank correlations indicate that tornado activity is weakly correlated with phases 2, 3, and 4 (positive) and 6, 7, and 8 (negative) of the Global Wind Oscillation in winter, spring, and fall. The correlation is not as clear in summer or at the annual scale. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests indicate that winters and springs with more phase 2, 3, and 4 and fewer phase 6, 7, and 8 days tend to have more tornadoes. Lastly, logistic regression models indicate that winters and springs with more phase 2, 3, and 4 days have greater likelihoods of having more than normal tornado activity. Combined, these analyses suggest that seasons with more low atmospheric angular momentum days, or phase 2, 3, and 4 days, tend to have greater tornado activity than those with fewer days, and that this relationship is most evident in winter and spring.

Global Climatology of the Coastal Low-Level Wind Jets using different Reanalysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lima, Daniela C. A.; Soares, Pedro M. M.; Semedo, Alvaro; Cardoso, Rita M.

2016-04-01

Coastal Low-Level Jets (henceforth referred to as "coastal jets" or simply as CLLJ) are low-tropospheric mesoscale wind features, with wind speed maxima confined to the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL), typically bellow 1km. Coastal jets occur in the eastern flank of the semi-permanent subtropical mid-latitude high pressure systems, along equatorward eastern boundary currents, due to a large-scale synoptic forcing. The large-scale synoptic forcing behind CLLJ occurrences is a high pressure system over the ocean and a thermal low inland. This results in coastal parallel winds that are the consequence of the geostrophic adjustment. CLLJ are found along the California (California-Oregon) and the Canary (Iberia and Northeastern Africa) currents in the Northern Hemisphere, and along the Peru-Humboldt (Peru-Chile), Benguela (Namibia) and Western Australia (West Australia) currents in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Arabian Sea (Oman CLLJ), the interaction between the high pressure over the Indian Ocean in summer (Summer Indian Monsoon) and the Somali (also known as Findlater) Jet forces a coastal jet wind feature off the southeast coast of Oman. Coastal jets play an important role in the regional climates of the mid-latitude western continental regions. The decrease of the sea surface temperatures (SST) along the coast due to upwelling lowers the evaporation over the ocean and the coast parallel winds prevents the advection of marine air inshore. The feedback processes between the CLLJ and upwelling play a crucial role in the regional climate, namely, promoting aridity since the parallel flow prevents the intrusion of moisture inland, and increasing fish stocks through the transport of rich nutrient cold water from the bottom. In this study, the global coastal low-level wind jets are identified and characterized using an ensemble of three reanalysis, the ECMWF Interim Reanalysis (ERA-Interim), the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) and the NCEP Climate Forecast

A 'special effort' to provide improved sounding and cloud-motion wind data for FGGE. [First GARP Global Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Greaves, J. R.; Dimego, G.; Smith, W. L.; Suomi, V. E.

1979-01-01

Enhancement and editing of high-density cloud motion wind assessments and research satellite soundings have been necessary to improve the quality of data used in The Global Weather Experiment. Editing operations are conducted by a man-computer interactive data access system. Editing will focus on such inputs as non-US satellite data, NOAA operational sounding and wind data sets, wind data from the Indian Ocean satellite, dropwindsonde data, and tropical mesoscale wind data. Improved techniques for deriving cloud heights and higher resolution sounding in meteorologically active areas are principal parts of the data enhancement program.

Wind energy global trends: Opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ancona, D.F.

1995-01-01

Wind energy is one of the least cost and environmentally attractive new electricity source options for many parts of the world. Because of new wind turbine technology, reduced costs, short installation time, and environmental benefits, countries all over the world are beginning to once again develop one of the world's oldest energy technologies. A unique set of opportunities and challenges now faces the wind industry and its proponents. This paper discusses the potential and challenges of wind power. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is working closely with industry to develop new, improved wind turbine technology and to support both domestic and international deployment. The US DOE Wind Program is discussed within this context

A New Global Regression Analysis Method for the Prediction of Wind Tunnel Model Weight Corrections

Science.gov (United States)

Ulbrich, Norbert Manfred; Bridge, Thomas M.; Amaya, Max A.

2014-01-01

A new global regression analysis method is discussed that predicts wind tunnel model weight corrections for strain-gage balance loads during a wind tunnel test. The method determines corrections by combining "wind-on" model attitude measurements with least squares estimates of the model weight and center of gravity coordinates that are obtained from "wind-off" data points. The method treats the least squares fit of the model weight separate from the fit of the center of gravity coordinates. Therefore, it performs two fits of "wind- off" data points and uses the least squares estimator of the model weight as an input for the fit of the center of gravity coordinates. Explicit equations for the least squares estimators of the weight and center of gravity coordinates are derived that simplify the implementation of the method in the data system software of a wind tunnel. In addition, recommendations for sets of "wind-off" data points are made that take typical model support system constraints into account. Explicit equations of the confidence intervals on the model weight and center of gravity coordinates and two different error analyses of the model weight prediction are also discussed in the appendices of the paper.

Wind: new wind markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cameron, A.

2005-01-01

The June 2005 edition of 'Wind Force 12' suggests that wind could generate 12% of global electricity requirements by 2020. But what moves a potential market into an emerging one? Geographical factors include a good wind resource, plenty of open space and the ability to get the generated electricity to end-users. A country's political framework is equally important, with fixed price systems, renewable quota systems and political will all playing a part. Some potential wind markets around the world are thought to have the conditions necessary to become key players in the wind industry. The emerging markets in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan and the Philippines are highlighted as examples

Investigations of radial electric field and global circulation layer in limiter tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zagorski, R.; Gerhauser, H.; Lehnen, M.; Loarer, T.

2002-01-01

An updated version of the 2D multifluid code TECXY is used to study the radial electric field structure and the appearance of a global circulation layer (GCL) inside the separatrix of the limiter tokamaks TEXTOR-94 and Tore-Supra-CIEL. The dependence of the driving forces on device geometry, limiter position, magnetic field orientation, impurity content and other parameters is investigated. The centrifugal force in the vicinity of the limiter head always determines the direction of the poloidal velocity in the GCL. There is good agreement with experimentally measured profiles of the poloidal velocity at the TEXTOR low field side. (orig.)

Reactive power control methods for improved reliability of wind power inverters under wind speed variations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Ke; Liserre, Marco; Blaabjerg, Frede

2012-01-01

method to relieve the thermal cycling of power switching devices under severe wind speed variations, by circulating reactive power among the parallel power converters in a WTS or among the WTS's in a wind park. The amount of reactive power is adjusted to limit the junction temperature fluctuation...

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Remote Sensing Inc. distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a microwave...

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Modulus

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Remote Sensing Inc. distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a microwave...

The Dynamics of Hadley Circulation Variability and Change

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Nicholas Alexander

The Hadley circulation exerts a dominant control on the surface climate of earth's tropical belt. Its converging surface winds fuel the tropical rains, while subsidence in the subtropics dries and stabilizes the atmosphere, creating deserts on land and stratocumulus decks over the oceans. Because of the strong meridional gradients in temperature and precipitation in the subtropics, any shift in the Hadley circulation edge could project as major changes in surface climate. While climate model simulations predict an expansion of the Hadley cells in response to greenhouse gas forcings, the mechanisms remain elusive. An analysis of the climatology, variability, and response of the Hadley circulation to radiative forcings in climate models and reanalyses illuminates the broader landscape in which Hadley cell expansion is realized. The expansion is a fundamental response of the atmosphere to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations as it scales with other key climate system changes, including polar amplification, increasing static stability, stratospheric cooling, and increasing global-mean surface temperatures. Multiple measures of the Hadley circulation edge latitudes co-vary with the latitudes of the eddy-driven jets on all timescales, and both exhibit a robust poleward shift in response to forcings. Further, across models there is a robust coupling between the eddy-driving on the Hadley cells and their width. On the other hand, the subtropical jet and tropopause break latitudes, two common observational proxies for the tropical belt edges, lack a strong statistical relationship with the Hadley cell edges and have no coherent response to forcings. This undermines theories for the Hadley cell width predicated on angular momentum conservation and calls for a new framework for understanding Hadley cell expansion. A numerical framework is developed within an idealized general circulation model to isolate the mean flow and eddy responses of the global atmosphere to

Global composites of surface wind speeds in tropical cyclones based on a 12 year scatterometer database

Science.gov (United States)

Klotz, Bradley W.; Jiang, Haiyan

2016-10-01

A 12 year global database of rain-corrected satellite scatterometer surface winds for tropical cyclones (TCs) is used to produce composites of TC surface wind speed distributions relative to vertical wind shear and storm motion directions in each TC-prone basin and various TC intensity stages. These composites corroborate ideas presented in earlier studies, where maxima are located right of motion in the Earth-relative framework. The entire TC surface wind asymmetry is down motion left for all basins and for lower strength TCs after removing the motion vector. Relative to the shear direction, the motion-removed composites indicate that the surface wind asymmetry is located down shear left for the outer region of all TCs, but for the inner-core region it varies from left of shear to down shear right for different basin and TC intensity groups. Quantification of the surface wind asymmetric structure in further stratifications is a necessary next step for this scatterometer data set.

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a...

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Zonal

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a...

Seasonal Dependence of Geomagnetic Active-Time Northern High-Latitude Upper Thermospheric Winds

Science.gov (United States)

Dhadly, Manbharat S.; Emmert, John T.; Drob, Douglas P.; Conde, Mark G.; Doornbos, Eelco; Shepherd, Gordon G.; Makela, Jonathan J.; Wu, Qian; Nieciejewski, Richard J.; Ridley, Aaron J.

2018-01-01

This study is focused on improving the poorly understood seasonal dependence of northern high-latitude F region thermospheric winds under active geomagnetic conditions. The gaps in our understanding of the dynamic high-latitude thermosphere are largely due to the sparseness of thermospheric wind measurements. With current observational facilities, it is infeasible to construct a synoptic picture of thermospheric winds, but enough data with wide spatial and temporal coverage have accumulated to construct a meaningful statistical analysis. We use long-term data from eight ground-based and two space-based instruments to derive climatological wind patterns as a function of magnetic local time, magnetic latitude, and season. These diverse data sets possess different geometries and different spatial and solar activity coverage. The major challenge is to combine these disparate data sets into a coherent picture while overcoming the sampling limitations and biases among them. In our previous study (focused on quiet time winds), we found bias in the Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) cross-track winds. Here we empirically quantify the GOCE bias and use it as a correction profile for removing apparent bias before empirical wind formulation. The assimilated wind patterns exhibit all major characteristics of high-latitude neutral circulation. The latitudinal extent of duskside circulation expands almost 10∘ from winter to summer. The dawnside circulation subsides from winter to summer. Disturbance winds derived from geomagnetic active and quiet winds show strong seasonal and latitudinal variability. Comparisons between wind patterns derived here and Disturbance Wind Model (DWM07) (which have no seasonal dependence) suggest that DWM07 is skewed toward summertime conditions.

The problem of the second wind turbine – a note on a common but flawed wind power estimation method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Kleidon

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Several recent wind power estimates suggest that this renewable energy resource can meet all of the current and future global energy demand with little impact on the atmosphere. These estimates are calculated using observed wind speeds in combination with specifications of wind turbine size and density to quantify the extractable wind power. However, this approach neglects the effects of momentum extraction by the turbines on the atmospheric flow that would have effects outside the turbine wake. Here we show with a simple momentum balance model of the atmospheric boundary layer that this common methodology to derive wind power potentials requires unrealistically high increases in the generation of kinetic energy by the atmosphere. This increase by an order of magnitude is needed to ensure momentum conservation in the atmospheric boundary layer. In the context of this simple model, we then compare the effect of three different assumptions regarding the boundary conditions at the top of the boundary layer, with prescribed hub height velocity, momentum transport, or kinetic energy transfer into the boundary layer. We then use simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model that explicitly simulate generation of kinetic energy with momentum conservation. These simulations show that the assumption of prescribed momentum import into the atmospheric boundary layer yields the most realistic behavior of the simple model, while the assumption of prescribed hub height velocity can clearly be disregarded. We also show that the assumptions yield similar estimates for extracted wind power when less than 10% of the kinetic energy flux in the boundary layer is extracted by the turbines. We conclude that the common method significantly overestimates wind power potentials by an order of magnitude in the limit of high wind power extraction. Ultimately, environmental constraints set the upper limit on wind power potential at larger scales rather than

Seismic and wind vulnerability assessment for the GAR-13 global risk assessment

OpenAIRE

Yamín Lacouture, Luis Eduardo; Hurtado Chaparro, Alvaro Ivan; Barbat Barbat, Horia Alejandro; Cardona Arboleda, Omar Dario

2014-01-01

A general methodology to evaluate vulnerability functions suitable for a probabilistic global risk assessment is proposed. The methodology is partially based in the methodological approach of the Multi-hazard Loss Estimation Methodology (Hazus) developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The vulnerability assessment process considers the resolution, information and limitations established for both the hazard and exposure models adopted. Seismic and wind vulnerability function...

Can wind help explain seasonal differences in avian migration speed?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kemp, M.U.; Shamoun-Baranes, J.; van Gasteren, H.; Bouten, W.; van Loon, E.E.

2010-01-01

A bird's ground speed is influenced by the wind conditions it encounters. Wind conditions, although variable, are not entirely random. Instead, wind exhibits persistent spatial and temporal dynamics described by the general circulation of the atmosphere. As such, in certain geographical areas wind's

Fritz Schott's Contributions to the Understanding of the Ocean Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Visbeck, M.

2009-04-01

The ocean circulation and its central significance for global climate lay at the heart of Fritz's research. In the context of hard-won data from his more than 30 research cruises to key regions of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, he made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the wind-driven and thermohaline ocean circulation. His insights and explorations of circulation and dynamics of the tropical Indian and Atlantic Oceans have led the field and provided a large part of the basis for planning large, international experiments. Fritz's work is also distinguished by his making exceptional use of modeling results, increasingly as the models have improved. His research has provided a much clearer correspondence between the observed ocean-structure and dynamical theory-noting both theoretical successes and limitations. Besides his general interest in the physical oceanography of the World Oceans, most of his research was devoted to the dynamics of tropical oceans with its intense and highly variable current systems. Concerning the Indian Ocean, Fritz's investigated the response of the Somali Current system to the variable monsoon winds in the early 1980's, obtaining high-quality, hydrographic surveys and the first long term direct measurement of ocean currents from moored arrays. His analyses and interpretations provided a synthesis of the complex circulations there. In the tropical Atlantic Ocean Fritz research focused on the western boundary circulation with important contributions to the understanding of the North Brazil Current retroflection, and the variability of the shallow and deep western boundary currents. Trying to solve the fundamental question ‘what is the role of the tropical ocean for climate variability', Fritz initiated large multinational research programs under the umbrella of the World Climate Research Projects WOCE (World Ocean Circulation Experiment) and CLIVAR (Climate Variability and Predictability). Fritz was the initiator and

Diurnal circulations and their multi-scale interaction leading to rainfall over the South China Sea upstream of the Philippines during intraseasonal monsoon westerly wind bursts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Myung-Sook; Elsberry, Russell L. [Naval Postgraduate School, Department of Meteorology, Monterey, CA (United States); Ho, Chang-Hoi [Seoul National University, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jinwon [University of California in Los Angeles, Department of Meteorology, Berkeley, CA (United States)

2011-10-15

The morning diurnal precipitation maximum over the coastal sea upstream of the Philippines during intraseasonal westerly wind bursts is examined from observations and numerical model simulations. A well-defined case of precipitation and large-scale circulation over the coastal sea west of the Philippines during 17-27 June 2004 is selected as a representative case. The hypothesis is that the mesoscale diurnal circulation over the Philippines and a large-scale diurnal circulation that is induced by large-scale differential heating over Asian continent and the surrounding ocean interact to produce the offshore precipitation maximum during the morning. Three-hourly combined satellite microwave and infrared rainfall retrievals define the morning rainfall peak during this period, and then later the stratiform rain area extends toward the open sea. A control numerical simulation in which a grid-nudging four-dimensional data assimilation (FDDA) is applied to force the large-scale diurnal circulation represents reasonably well the morning rainfall maximum. An enhanced low-level convergence similar to observations is simulated due to the interaction of the local- and large-scale diurnal circulations. The essential role of the local-scale diurnal circulation is illustrated in a sensitivity test in which the solar zenith angle is fixed at 7 am to suppress this diurnal circulation. The implication for climate diagnosis or modeling of such upstream coastal sea precipitation maxima is that the diurnal variations of both the local- and the large-scale circulations must be taken into consideration. (orig.)

Zonal wind observations during a geomagnetic storm

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, N. J.; Spencer, N. W.

1986-01-01

In situ measurements taken by the Wind and Temperature Spectrometer (WATS) onboard the Dynamics Explorer 2 spacecraft during a geomagnetic storm display zonal wind velocities that are reduced in the corotational direction as the storm intensifies. The data were taken within the altitudes 275 to 475 km in the dusk local time sector equatorward of the auroral region. Characteristic variations in the value of the Dst index of horizontal geomagnetic field strength are used to monitor the storm evolution. The detected global rise in atmospheric gas temperature indicates the development of thermospheric heating. Concurrent with that heating, reductions in corotational wind velocities were measured equatorward of the auroral region. Just after the sudden commencement, while thermospheric heating is intense in both hemispheres, eastward wind velocities in the northern hemisphere show reductions ranging from 500 m/s over high latitudes to 30 m/s over the geomagnetic equator. After 10 hours storm time, while northern thermospheric heating is diminishing, wind velocity reductions, distinct from those initially observed, begin to develop over southern latitudes. In the latter case, velocity reductions range from 300 m/s over the highest southern latitudes to 150 m/s over the geomagnetic equator and extend into the Northern Hemisphere. The observations highlight the interhemispheric asymmetry in the development of storm effects detected as enhanced gas temperatures and reduced eastward wind velocities. Zonal wind reductions over high latitudes can be attributed to the storm induced equatorward spread of westward polar cap plasma convection and the resulting plasma-neutral collisions. However, those collisions are less significant over low latitudes; so zonal wind reductions over low latitudes must be attributed to an equatorward extension of a thermospheric circulation pattern disrupted by high latitude collisions between neutrals transported via eastward winds and ions

The dynamics of İzmir Bay under the effects of wind and thermohaline forces

Science.gov (United States)

Sayın, Erdem; Eronat, Canan

2018-04-01

The dominant circulation pattern of İzmir Bay on the Aegean Sea coast of Turkey is studied taking into consideration the influence of wind and thermohaline forces. İzmir Bay is discussed by subdividing the bay into outer, middle and inner areas. Wind is the most important driving force in the İzmir coastal area. There are also thermohaline forces due to the existence of water types of different physical properties in the bay. In contrast to the two-layer stratification during summer, a homogeneous water column exists in winter. The free surface version of the Princeton model (Killworth's 3-D general circulation model) is applied, with the input data obtained through the measurements made by the research vessel K. Piri Reis. As a result of the simulations with artificial wind, the strong consistent wind generates circulation patterns independent of the seasonal stratification in the bay. Wind-driven circulation causes cyclonic or anticyclonic movements in the middle bay where the distinct İzmir Bay Water (IBW) forms. Cyclonic movement takes place under the influence of southerly and westerly winds. On the other hand, northerly and easterly winds cause an anticyclonic movement in the middle bay. The outer and inner bay also have the wind-driven recirculation patterns expected.

A global three dimensional hybrid simulation of the interaction between a weakly magnetized obstacle and the solar wind

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Trávníček, Pavel; Hellinger, Petr; Schiver, D.

2003-01-01

Roč. 679, CP679 (2003), s. 485-488 ISSN 1551-7616. [Solar wind ten. Pisa, 17.06.2002-21.06.2002] Grant - others:ESA(NL) Prodex14529/00/NL/SFe; NSF(US) INT-0010111 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z3042911 Keywords : magnetized obstacle * solar wind * global hybrid simulations Subject RIV: BL - Plasma and Gas Discharge Physics

Trends in Wind Energy Technology Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Flemming; Madsen, Peter Hauge; Tande, John O.

2011-01-01

. The huge potential of wind, the rapid development of the technology and the impressive growth of the industry justify the perception that wind energy is changing its role to become the future backbone of a secure global energy supply. Between the mid-1980s, when the wind industry took off, and 2005 wind......Text Over the past 25 years global wind energy capacity has doubled every three years, corresponding to a tenfold expansion every decade. By the end of 2010 global installed wind capacity was approximately 200 GW and in 2011 is expected to produce about 2% of global electricity consumption...... turbine technology has seen rapid development, leading to impressive increases in the size of turbines, with corresponding cost reductions. From 2005 to 2009 the industry’s focus seems to have been on increasing manufacturing capacity, meeting market demand and making wind turbines more reliable...

Seasonal cycle of surface circulation in the coastal North Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shetye, S.R.; Shenoi, S.S.C.

with similar patterns of longshore current and wind stress; (ii) circulation off the west coast of India is consistent with the dynamics of a wind-driven eastern boundary current only during the southwest monsoon. During the northeast monsoon it is possible...

Wind farm project economics : value of wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bills-Everett, T. [Mainstream Renewable Power, Toronto, ON (Canada)

2010-07-01

This PowerPoint presentation discussed methods of increasing the value of wind power projects. Appropriate turbine selection and layout is needed to ensure that wind resources are fully developed. Construction costs have a significant impact on project costs. The world turbine price index has not significantly fluctuated since 2006. Operating costs, and the value of wind power projects, are linked with OPEX fluctuations. Wind power projects can significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. An increase in wind power capacity will reduce the overall cost of energy produced from wind power. Countries can use wind power as part of a renewable energy portfolio designed to reduce risks related to diminishing petroleum supplies. Wind power will help to ensure a global transition to renewable energy use. tabs., figs.

An aftereffect of global warming on tropical Pacific decadal variability

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Jian; Liu, Qinyu; Wang, Chuanyang

2018-03-01

Studies have shown that global warming over the past six decades can weaken the tropical Pacific Walker circulation and maintain the positive phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Based on observations and model simulations, another aftereffect of global warming on IPO is found. After removing linear trends (global warming signals) from observations, however, the tropical Pacific climate still exhibited some obvious differences between two IPO negative phases. The boreal winter (DJF) equatorial central-eastern Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) was colder during the 1999-2014 period (P2) than that during 1961-1976 (P1). This difference may have been a result of global warming nonlinear modulation of precipitation; i.e., in the climatological rainy region, the core area of the tropical Indo-western Pacific warm pool receives more precipitation through the "wet-get-wetter" mechanism. Positive precipitation anomalies in the warm pool during P2 are much stronger than those during P1, even after subtracting the linear trend. Corresponding to the differences of precipitation, the Pacific Walker circulation is stronger in P2 than in P1. Consequent easterly winds over the equatorial Pacific led to a colder equatorial eastern-central Pacific during P2. Therefore, tropical Pacific climate differences between the two negative IPO phases are aftereffects of global warming. These aftereffects are supported by the results of coupled climate model experiments, with and without global warming.

Modelling the Seasonal Overturning Circulation in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Yao, Fengchao

2015-04-01

The overturning circulation in the Red Sea exhibits a distinct seasonally reversing pattern and is studied using 50-year, high-resolution MIT general circulation model simulations. The seasonal water exchange in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb is successfully simulated, and the structures of the intruding subsurface Gulf of Aden intermediate water are in good agreement with summer observations in 2011. The model results suggest that the summer overturning circulation is driven by the combined effect of the shoaling of the thermocline in the Gulf of Aden resulting from remote winds in the Arabian Sea and an upward surface slope from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden set up by local surface winds in the Red Sea. For the winter overturning circulation, the climatological model mean results suggest that the surface inflow intensifies in a western boundary current in the southern Red Sea that switches to an eastern boundary current north of 24°N. The overturning is accomplished through a cyclonic recirculation and a cross-basin overturning circulation in the northern Red Sea, with major sinking occurring along a narrow band of width about 20 km along the eastern boundary and weaker upwelling along the western boundary. The northward pressure gradient force, strong vertical mixing, and horizontal mixing near the boundary are the essential dynamical components in the model\\'s winter overturning circulation.

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Zonal

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Curl

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Modulus

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

A global mean ocean circulation estimation using goce gravity models - the DTU12MDT mean dynamic topography model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Per; Andersen, Ole Baltazar

2012-01-01

The Gravity and Ocean Circulation Experiment - GOCE satellite mission measure the Earth gravity field with unprecedented accuracy leading to substantial improvements in the modelling of the ocean circulation and transport. In this study of the performance of GOCE, a newer gravity model have been...... combined with the DTU10MSS mean sea surface model to construct a global mean dynamic topography model named DTU10MDT. The results of preliminary analyses using preliminary GOCE gravity models clearly demonstrated the potential of GOCE mission. Both the resolution and the estimation of the surface currents...... have been improved significantly compared to results obtained using pre-GOCE gravity field models. The results of this study show that geostrophic surface currents associated with the mean circulation have been further improved and that currents having speeds down to 5 cm/s have been recovered....

Wind profile radar for study of Antarctic air circulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ragaini, E.; Sarango, M.F.; Vasquez, E.H.

1992-01-01

After a brief discussion of meteorological methods used in the Antarctic, the paper gives an outline of a coordinated international research project whose objective is to set up a wind profiler radar station that would give meteorologists information regarding Antarctic atmospheric dynamics useful in their investigation of the causes and effects of the hole in the ozone layer. The radar instrumentation is to provide continuous readings of wind velocity at varying altitudes above the polar continent

Global solar magetic field organization in the extended corona: influence on the solar wind speed and density over the cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Réville, V.; Velli, M.; Brun, S.

2017-12-01

The dynamics of the solar wind depends intrinsically on the structure of the global solar magnetic field, which undergoes fundamental changes over the 11yr solar cycle. For instance, the wind terminal velocity is thought to be anti-correlated with the expansion factor, a measure of how the magnetic field varies with height in the solar corona, usually computed at a fixed height (≈ 2.5 Rȯ, the source surface radius which approximates the distance at which all magnetic field lines become open). However, the magnetic field expansion affects the solar wind in a more detailed way, its influence on the solar wind properties remaining significant well beyond the source surface: we demonstrate this using 3D global MHD simulations of the solar corona, constrained by surface magnetograms over half a solar cycle (1989-2001). For models to comply with the constraints provided by observed characteristics of the solar wind, namely, that the radial magnetic field intensity becomes latitude independent at some distance from the Sun (Ulysses observations beyond 1 AU), and that the terminal wind speed is anti-correlated with the mass flux, they must accurately describe expansion beyond the solar wind critical point (even up to 10Rȯ and higher in our model). We also show that near activity minimum, expansion in the higher corona beyond 2.5 Rȯ is actually the dominant process affecting the wind speed. We discuss the consequences of this result on the necessary acceleration profile of the solar wind, the location of the sonic point and of the energy deposition by Alfvén waves.

Observations of Martian surface winds at the Viking Lander 1 site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murphy, J.R.; Leovy, C.B.; Tillman, J.E.

1990-01-01

Partial failure of the wind instrumentation on the Viking Lander 1 (VL1) in the Martian subtropics (22.5 degree N) has limited previous analyses of meteorological data for this site. The authors describe a method for reconstructing surface winds using data from the partially failed sensor and present and analyze a time series of wind, pressure, and temperature at the site covering 350 Mars days (sols). At the beginning of the mission during early summer, winds were controlled by regional topography, but they soon underwent a transition to a regime controlled by the Hadley circulation. Diurnal and semidiurnal wind oscillations and synoptic variations have been analyzed and compared with the corresponding variations at the Viking Lander 2 middle latitude site (48 degree N). Diurnal wind oscillations were controlled primarily by regional topography and boundary layer forcing, although a global mode may have been influencing them during two brief episodes. Semidiurnal wind oscillations were controlled by the westward propagating semidiurnal tide from sol 210 onward. Comparison of the synoptic variations at the two sites suggests that the same eastward propagating wave trains were present at both sites, at least following the first 1977 great dust storm, but discordant inferred zonal wave numbers and phase speeds at the two sites cast doubt on the zonal wave numbers deduced from analyses of combined wind and pressure data, particularly at the VL1 site where the signal to noise ratio of the dominant synoptic waves is relatively small

Coastal circulation in the North Indian Ocean: Coastal segment (14,S-W)

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shetye, S.R.; Gouveia, A.D.

and as a result the circulation shows a distinct seasonal character. The nature of winds, precipitation, runoff, and tides in the region are summarized. Characteristics of large-scale near surface circulation and of water masses in the North Indian Basin...

Indirect downscaling of global circulation model data based on atmospheric circulation and temperature for projections of future precipitation in hourly resolution

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, F.; Bárdossy, A.

2013-07-01

Many hydraulic applications like the design of urban sewage systems require projections of future precipitation in high temporal resolution. We developed a method to predict the regional distribution of hourly precipitation sums based on daily mean sea level pressure and temperature data from a Global Circulation Model. It is an indirect downscaling method avoiding uncertain precipitation data from the model. It is based on a fuzzy-logic classification of atmospheric circulation patterns (CPs) that is further subdivided by means of the average daily temperature. The observed empirical distributions at 30 rain gauges to each CP-temperature class are assumed as constant and used for projections of the hourly precipitation sums in the future. The method was applied to the CP-temperature sequence derived from the 20th century run and the scenario A1B run of ECHAM5. According to ECHAM5, the summers in southwest Germany will become progressively drier. Nevertheless, the frequency of the highest hourly precipitation sums will increase. According to the predictions, estival water stress and the risk of extreme hourly precipitation will both increase simultaneously during the next decades.

Blowing against the wind-An exploratory application of actor network theory to the analysis of local controversies and participation processes in wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jolivet, Eric; Heiskanen, Eva

2010-01-01

This paper analyses the deployment of wind power and the related local controversies using actor-network theory (ANT). ANT provides conceptual instruments for a fine-tuned analysis of the contingencies that condition a project's success or failure by focusing on the micro-decisions that intertwine the material aspects of the technology, the site where it is implemented, the participation process, and the social relations in which they are embedded. By considering controversies as alternative efforts of competing networks of actors to 'frame' the reality and enroll others, ANT sheds light on the complex and political nature of planning a wind farm project, insofar as it consist in aligning material and human behaviours into a predictable scenario. 'Overflows' occur when actors do not conform to expectations, adopt conflicting positions and develop their own interpretations of the project, thus obliging designers to adapt their frames and change their plans. To demonstrate this framework, we apply it to the case of a wind farm project in the South of France, near Albi. Our analysis suggests a new approach to examining wind power projects in terms of the interaction between globally circulating technologies, unique characteristics of the site, the participation process and the social dynamics that emerge when these are combined.

Bird and bat species' global vulnerability to collision mortality at wind farms revealed through a trait-based assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Thaxter, Chris B; Buchanan, Graeme M; Carr, Jamie; Butchart, Stuart H M; Newbold, Tim; Green, Rhys E; Tobias, Joseph A; Foden, Wendy B; O'Brien, Sue; Pearce-Higgins, James W

2017-09-13

Mitigation of anthropogenic climate change involves deployments of renewable energy worldwide, including wind farms, which can pose a significant collision risk to volant animals. Most studies into the collision risk between species and wind turbines, however, have taken place in industrialized countries. Potential effects for many locations and species therefore remain unclear. To redress this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of recorded collisions between birds and bats and wind turbines within developed countries. We related collision rate to species-level traits and turbine characteristics to quantify the potential vulnerability of 9538 bird and 888 bat species globally. Avian collision rate was affected by migratory strategy, dispersal distance and habitat associations, and bat collision rates were influenced by dispersal distance. For birds and bats, larger turbine capacity (megawatts) increased collision rates; however, deploying a smaller number of large turbines with greater energy output reduced total collision risk per unit energy output, although bat mortality increased again with the largest turbines. Areas with high concentrations of vulnerable species were also identified, including migration corridors. Our results can therefore guide wind farm design and location to reduce the risk of large-scale animal mortality. This is the first quantitative global assessment of the relative collision vulnerability of species groups with wind turbines, providing valuable guidance for minimizing potentially serious negative impacts on biodiversity. © 2017 The Author(s).

Assessing climate change impacts on the near-term stability of the wind energy resource over the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Pryor, S C; Barthelmie, R J

2011-05-17

The energy sector comprises approximately two-thirds of global total greenhouse gas emissions. For this and other reasons, renewable energy resources including wind power are being increasingly harnessed to provide electricity generation potential with negligible emissions of carbon dioxide. The wind energy resource is naturally a function of the climate system because the "fuel" is the incident wind speed and thus is determined by the atmospheric circulation. Some recent articles have reported historical declines in measured near-surface wind speeds, leading some to question the continued viability of the wind energy industry. Here we briefly articulate the challenges inherent in accurately quantifying and attributing historical tendencies and making robust projections of likely future wind resources. We then analyze simulations from the current generation of regional climate models and show, at least for the next 50 years, the wind resource in the regions of greatest wind energy penetration will not move beyond the historical envelope of variability. Thus this work suggests that the wind energy industry can, and will, continue to make a contribution to electricity provision in these regions for at least the next several decades.

Global Solar Magnetic Field Organization in the Outer Corona: Influence on the Solar Wind Speed and Mass Flux Over the Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Réville, Victor; Brun, Allan Sacha

2017-11-01

The dynamics of the solar wind depends intrinsically on the structure of the global solar magnetic field, which undergoes fundamental changes over the 11-year solar cycle. For instance, the wind terminal velocity is thought to be anti-correlated with the expansion factor, a measure of how the magnetic field varies with height in the solar corona, usually computed at a fixed height (≈ 2.5 {R}⊙ , the source surface radius that approximates the distance at which all magnetic field lines become open). However, the magnetic field expansion affects the solar wind in a more detailed way, its influence on the solar wind properties remaining significant well beyond the source surface. We demonstrate this using 3D global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the solar corona, constrained by surface magnetograms over half a solar cycle (1989-2001). A self-consistent expansion beyond the solar wind critical point (even up to 10 {R}⊙ ) makes our model comply with observed characteristics of the solar wind, namely, that the radial magnetic field intensity becomes latitude independent at some distance from the Sun, and that the mass flux is mostly independent of the terminal wind speed. We also show that near activity minimum, the expansion in the higher corona has more influence on the wind speed than the expansion below 2.5 {R}⊙ .

The Role of Subtropical Irreversible PV Mixing in the Zonal Mean Circulation Response to Global Warming-like Thermal Forcing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Jian [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Sun, Lantao [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Wu, Yutian [New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States); Chen, Gang [Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)

2013-11-21

The atmospheric circulation response to the global warming-like tropical upper tropospheric heating is revisited using a dry atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) in light of a new diagnostics based on the concept of finite-amplitude wave activity (FAWA) on equivalent latitude. For a given tropical heating profile, the linear Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) wave refraction analysis sometimes gives a very different and even opposite prediction of the eddy momentum flux response to that of the actual full model simulation, exposing the limitation of the traditional linear approach in understanding the full dynamics of the atmospheric response under global warming. The implementation of the FAWA diagnostics reveals that in response to the upper tropospheric heating, effective diffusivity, a measure of the mixing efficiency, increases and advances upward and poleward in the subtropics and the resultant enhancement and the poleward encroachment of eddy potential vorticity mixing leads to a poleward displaced potential vorticity (PV) gradient peak in the upper troposphere. The anomalous eddy PV flux, in balance with the PV dissipation, gives rise to a poleward shift in the eddy-driven jet and eddy-driven mean meridional circulation. Sensitivity experiments show that these irreversible dissipation processes in the upper troposphere are robust, regardless of the width of the tropical heating.

Dynamical response of the Arctic winter stratosphere to global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Karpechko, A.; Manzini, E.

2017-12-01

Climate models often simulate dynamical warming of the Arctic stratosphere as a response to global warming in association with a strengthening of the deep branch of the Brewer-Dobson circulation; however until now, no satisfactory mechanism for such a response has been suggested. Here we investigate the role of stationary planetary waves in the dynamical response of the Arctic winter stratosphere circulation to global warming by analysing simulations performed with atmosphere-only Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models driven by prescribed sea surface temperatures (SSTs). We focus on December-February (DJF) because this is the period when the troposphere and stratosphere are strongly coupled. When forced by increased SSTs, all the models analysed here simulate Arctic stratosphere dynamical warming, mostly due to increased upward propagation of quasi-stationary wave number 1, as diagnosed by the meridional eddy heat flux. By analysing intermodel spread in the response we show that the stratospheric warming and increased wave flux to the stratosphere correlate with the strengthening of the zonal winds in subtropics and mid-latitudes near the tropopause- a robust response to global warming. These results support previous studies of future Arctic stratosphere changes and suggest a dynamical warming of the Arctic wintertime polar vortex as the most likely response to global warming.

Circulation of the polar thermosphere during geomagnetically quiet and active times as observed by Dynamics Explorer 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCormac, F.G.; Killeen, T.L.; Thayer, J.P.; Hernandez, G.; Tschan, C.R.; Ponthieu, J.J.; Spencer, N.W.

1987-01-01

Neutral wind measurements obtained by instruments on board the Dynamics Explorer 2 (DE 2) spacecraft have been used to study the effects of geomagnetic activity on the circulation of the high-latitude neutral thermosphere for solar maximum conditions during the periods of November 1981 through January 1982 and November 1982 through January 1983. The data have been sorted and ordered according to the two geophysical indices Kp and (auroral electrojet) AE. Simple expressions have been derived which describe (1) the maximum antisunward wind speed in the geomagnetic polar cap, (2) the maximum sunward wind speeds in the dawn and dusk sectors of the auroral oval, and (3) the latitudinal extent of the polar cap antisunward neutral wind as functions of Kp and AE. The results show a positive correlation between the geomagnetic indices and the three characteristic features of the neutral circulation described above. Averaged vector wind fields in geomagnetic coordinates for Kp ≤ 2 and Kp ≥ 4 in both northern and southern hemispheres for the 6 months have been derived from the data. In doing this, a first-order invariance of the neutral wind circulation in geomagnetic coordinates as a function of universal time (UT) was assumed. The results show a two-cell circulation pattern in the northern winter hemisphere for both quiet and active geomagnetic periods. The cell sizes increase with increasing geomagnetic activity. The dusk cell is always dominant. The southern summer hemisphere averages show only the dusk circulation cell for both quiet and active geomagnetic periods. The cell sizes increase with increasing geomagnetic activity. The dusk cell is always dominant. The southern summer hemisphere averages show only the dusk circulation cell for both quiet and active geomagnetic periods. A diminution of this cell occurs for reduced levels of geomagnetic activity

Assimilation of TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data into a global ocean circulation model: How good are the results?

Science.gov (United States)

Fukumori, Ichiro; Raghunath, Ramanujam; Fu, Lee-Lueng; Chao, Yi

1999-11-01

The feasibility of assimilating satellite altimetry data into a global ocean general circulation model is studied. Three years of TOPEX/Poseidon data are analyzed using a global, three-dimensional, nonlinear primitive equation model. The assimilation's success is examined by analyzing its consistency and reliability measured by formal error estimates with respect to independent measurements. Improvements in model solution are demonstrated, in particular, properties not directly measured. Comparisons are performed with sea level measured by tide gauges, subsurface temperatures and currents from moorings, and bottom pressure measurements. Model representation errors dictate what can and cannot be resolved by assimilation, and its identification is emphasized.

Wind power soars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flavin, C. [Worldwatch Inst., Washington, DC (United States)

1996-12-31

Opinions on the world market for wind power are presented in this paper. Some data for global wind power generating capacity are provided. European and other markets are discussed individually. Estimated potential for wind power is given for a number of countries. 3 figs.

A Robust Response of the Hadley Circulation to Global Warming

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, William K M.; Kim, Kyu-Myong

2014-01-01

Tropical rainfall is expected to increase in a warmer climate. Yet, recent studies have inferred that the Hadley Circulation (HC), which is primarily driven by latent heating from tropical rainfall, is weakened under global warming. Here, we show evidence of a robust intensification of the HC from analyses of 33 CMIP5 model projections under a scenario of 1 per year CO2 emission increase. The intensification is manifested in a deep-tropics squeeze, characterized by a pronounced increase in the zonal mean ascending motion in the mid and upper troposphere, a deepening and narrowing of the convective zone and enhanced rainfall in the deep tropics. These changes occur in conjunction with a rise in the region of maximum outflow of the HC, with accelerated meridional mass outflow in the uppermost branch of the HC away from the equator, coupled to a weakened inflow in the return branches of the HC in the lower troposphere.

Eddy Effects in the General Circulation, Spanning Mean Currents, Mesoscale Eddies, and Topographic Generation, Including Submesoscale Nests

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-30

alongshore winds favoring upwelling circulation. As for the other EBUS (e.g., Humboldt, Benguela, and Canary Currents ), equatorward winds drive...Eddy Effects in the General Circulation, Spanning Mean Currents , Mesoscale Eddies, and Topographic Generation, Including Submesoscale Nests...environments OBJECTIVES The central scientific questions are how the eddies control the persistent currents by their eddy-induced momentum and buoyancy fluxes

Large scale atmospheric tropical circulation changes and consequences during global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gastineau, G.

2008-01-01

The changes of the tropical large scale circulation during climate change can have large impacts on human activities. In a first part, the meridional atmospheric tropical circulation was studied in the different coupled models. During climate change, we find, on the one hand, that the Hadley meridional circulation and the subtropical jet are significantly shifted poleward, and on the other hand, that the intensity of the tropical circulation weakens. The slow down of the atmospheric circulation results from the dry static stability changes affecting the tropical troposphere. Secondly, idealized simulations are used to explain the tropical circulation changes. Ensemble simulation using the model LMDZ4 are set up to study the results from the coupled model IPSLCM4. The weakening of the large scale tropical circulation and the poleward shift of the Hadley cells are explained by both the uniform change and the meridional gradient change of the sea surface temperature. Then, we used the atmospheric model LMDZ4 in an aqua-planet configuration. The Hadley circulation changes are explained in a simple framework by the required poleward energy transport. In a last part, we focus on the water vapor distribution and feedback in the climate models. The Hadley circulation changes were shown to have a significant impact on the water vapour feedback during climate change. (author)

Preliminary development of a global 3-D magnetohydrodynamic computational model for solar wind-cometary and planetary interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stahara, S.S.

1986-05-01

This is the final summary report by Resource Management Associates, Inc., of the first year's work under Contract No. NASW-4011 to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The work under this initial phase of the contract relates to the preliminary development of a global, 3-D magnetohydrodynamic computational model to quantitatively describe the detailed continuum field and plasma interaction process of the solar wind with cometary and planetary bodies throughout the solar system. The work extends a highly-successful, observationally-verified computational model previously developed by the author, and is appropriate for the global determination of supersonic, super-Alfvenic solar wind flows past planetary obstacles. This report provides a concise description of the problems studied, a summary of all the important research results, and copies of the publications

Neutral wind measurements by Fabry-Perot interferometry in Antarctica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, K.D.; Dudeney, J.R.; Rodger, A.S.; Smith, R.W.; Rees, D.

1986-01-01

A large-aperture (150 mm), spatially scanned Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) has been deployed at Halley (75.5 o S, 26.8 o W; L=4.2), Antarctica. Thermospheric neutral wind measurements were made by finding the Doppler shift of the OI( 3 P 2 - 1 D 2 ) 630.0 nm emission. This has allowed the first comparison to be made between southern hemisphere ground-based thermospheric wind measurements and the predictions of a three-dimensional, time-dependent thermospheric global circulation model. Geomagnetic and geographic latitude are well separated at Halley, so we may expect a distinct contrast to the dynamic behaviour observed in the more frequently studied northern polar thermosphere. Although the initial results from the experiment are in general agreement with the model, some consistent and significant differences between the observed wind field and that predicted are evident in the morning sector. These may be related to uncertainties in mapping magnetospheric boundaries to ionospheric heights in the southern hemisphere. The intensity of the 630 nm emission has been examined with respect to the maximum plasma frequency of the Es layer using data from the Advanced Ionospheric Sounder at Halley

The potential of wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauge Madsen, P.; Lundsager, P.

1992-09-01

Papers presented at the European wind energy conference on the potential of wind farms are presented. The aim of the conference was to bring into focus the problems, experiences and potential of the application of wind power in wind power farms as a contribution to the European and global energy supply. It was considered that the interchange of experience among representatives of science, utilities, industry, environment and energy planning, together with those who represent financial and insurance interests, would create a better understanding of all aspects of wind power for its future successful development. The subjects covered concern surveys of national planning and policies regarding wind energy utilization and national and global development of wind turbine arrays. The performance of some individual wind farms is described. Papers also deal with utility and project planning, wind prediction and certification, wind loads and fatigus, wakes, noise and control. (AB)

The potential of wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauge Madsen, P.; Lundsager, P.

1992-09-01

Papers presented at the European wind energy conference on the potential of wind farms are presented. The aim of the conference was to bring into focus the problems, experiences and potential of the application of wind power in wind power farms as a contribution to the European and global energy supply. It was considered that the interchange of experience among representatives of science, utilities, industry, environment and energy planning, together with those who represent financial and insurance interests, would create a better understanding of all aspects of wind power for its future successful development. The subjects covered concern surveys of national planning and policies regarding wind energy utilization and national and global development of wind turbine arrays. The performance of some individual wind farms is described. Papers also deal with utility and project planning, wind prediction and certification, wind loads and fatigues, wakes, noise and control. (AB)

Comparison of AMSR-2 wind speed and sea surface temperature ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

68

characteristics and variable features where the wind circulation pattern is ..... is extended to understand the quality of AMSR-2 wind speed in a constructive ...... New Disclosures (potential conflicts of interest, funding, acknowledgements):.

The winds regime of surface in the Colombian coffee area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orlando Guzman Martinez; Lucia Gomez Gomez

1994-01-01

The characteristics of the address and gust of wind of the surface winds have been studied in 15 stations of the Colombian coffee area. It was found that the relief plays an important paper in the wind circulation so that during the day (7 a.m. - 7 p.m.) these they blow of the low sector toward the mountain and at night (7 p.m. - 7 a.m.) this situation is invested, that which is consistent with the characteristic pattern of circulation valley-mountain of the mountainous regions. For this fact, in most of the analyzed places a single day and night dominant address that it takes the orientation in that it is the respective hydrographic basin. It was not observed that the Alisios winds of the northeast and southeast modify the address settled down by the local circulation (valley-mountain) on the other hand a remarkable increase of the gust of wind was appreciated in July and August in the Florida and Ospina, stations located to the south of the country, as direct consequence of the Alisios of the southeast. The daily gust of wind in most of the studied places is low and it doesn't exceed of the 10 km/h, reason why it can consider that the Colombian coffee area is free of important damages for the action of the wind. Nevertheless, in some stations as Alban, Maracay and Paraguaicito the daily maximum gust of wind can surpass the 30 km/h and in occasions to cause damage mechanic to cultivations of high behavior and not well anchored facilities

Relative contributions of external forcing factors to circulation and hydrographic properties in a micro-tidal bay

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Seokjin; Kasai, Akihide

2017-11-01

The dominant external forcing factors influencing estuarine circulation differ among coastal environments. A three-dimensional regional circulation model was developed to estimate external influence indices and relative contributions of external forcing factors such as external oceanic forcing, surface heat flux, wind stress, and river discharge to circulation and hydrographic properties in Tango Bay, Japan. Model results show that in Tango Bay, where the Tsushima Warm Current passes offshore of the bay, under conditions of strong seasonal winds and river discharge, the water temperature and salinity are strongly influenced by surface heat flux and river discharge in the surface layer, respectively, while in the middle and bottom layers both are mainly controlled by open boundary conditions. The estuarine circulation is comparably influenced by all external forcing factors, the strong current, surface heat flux, wind stress, and river discharge. However, the influence degree of each forcing factor varies with temporal variations in external forcing factors as: the influence of open boundary conditions is higher in spring and early summer when the stronger current passes offshore of the bay, that of surface heat flux reflects the absolute value of surface heat flux, that of wind stress is higher in late fall and winter due to strong seasonal winds, and that of river discharge is higher in early spring due to snow-melting and summer and early fall due to flood events.

Wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotevski, Darko

2003-01-01

Wind is not only free, it is inexhaustible. Wind energy has come a very long way since the prototypes of just 20 years ago. today's wind turbines are state-of-the-art technology - modular and quick to install anywhere where there is sufficient wind potential to provide secure, centralised or distributed generation. It is a global phenomenon, the world's fastest growing energy sector, a clean and effective modern technology that completely avoids pollution and thus reducing the 'green house' effect. (Original)

Sensitivity experiments with an adaptation model of circulation of western tropical Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Bahulayan, N.; Shaji, C.; Rao, A.D.; Dube, S.K.

circulation at 10 m depth is controlled by both wind stress and sea surface topography. Circulation at 50 m depth is mainly controlled by thermohaline forcing and sea surface topography. The current speed in the western tropical Indian Ocean is of the order...

Seasonal Overturning Circulation in the Red Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, F.; Hoteit, I.; Koehl, A.

2010-12-01

The Red Sea exhibits a distinct seasonal overturning circulation. In winter, a typical two-layer exchange structure, with a fresher inflow from the Gulf of Aden on top of an outflow from the Red Sea, is established. In summer months (June to September) this circulation pattern is changed to a three-layer structure: a surface outflow from the Red Sea on top of a subsurface intrusion of the Gulf of Aden Intermediate Water and a weakened deep outflow. This seasonal variability is studied using a general circulation model, MITgcm, with 6 hourly NCEP atmospheric forcing. The model is able to reproduce the observed seasonal variability very well. The forcing mechanisms of the seasonal variability related to seasonal surface wind stress and buoyancy flux, and water mass transformation processes associated with the seasonal overturning circulation are analyzed and presented.

Wind Power Meteorology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundtang Petersen, Erik; Mortensen, Niels Gylling; Landberg, Lars

Wind power meteorology has evolved as an applied science, firmly founded on boundary-layer meteorology, but with strong links to climatology and geography. It concerns itself with three main areas: siting of wind turbines, regional wind resource assessment, and short-term prediction of the wind...... resource. The history, status and perspectives of wind power meteorology are presented, with emphasis on physical considerations and on its practical application. Following a global view of the wind resource, the elements of boundary layer meteorology which are most important for wind energy are reviewed......: wind profiles and shear, turbulence and gust, and extreme winds. The data used in wind power meteorology stem mainly from three sources: onsite wind measurements, the synoptic networks, and the re-analysis projects. Wind climate analysis, wind resource estimation and siting further require a detailed...

Direct inversion of circulation and mixing from tracer measurements – Part 1: Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. von Clarmann

2016-11-01

Full Text Available From a series of zonal mean global stratospheric tracer measurements sampled in altitude vs. latitude, circulation and mixing patterns are inferred by the inverse solution of the continuity equation. As a first step, the continuity equation is written as a tendency equation, which is numerically integrated over time to predict a later atmospheric state, i.e., mixing ratio and air density. The integration is formally performed by the multiplication of the initially measured atmospheric state vector by a linear prediction operator. Further, the derivative of the predicted atmospheric state with respect to the wind vector components and mixing coefficients is used to find the most likely wind vector components and mixing coefficients which minimize the residual between the predicted atmospheric state and the later measurement of the atmospheric state. Unless multiple tracers are used, this inversion problem is under-determined, and dispersive behavior of the prediction further destabilizes the inversion. Both these problems are addressed by regularization. For this purpose, a first-order smoothness constraint has been chosen. The usefulness of this method is demonstrated by application to various tracer measurements recorded with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS. This method aims at a diagnosis of the Brewer–Dobson circulation without involving the concept of the mean age of stratospheric air, and related problems like the stratospheric tape recorder, or intrusions of mesospheric air into the stratosphere.

A Three-Box Model of Thermohaline Circulation under the Energy Constraint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen Yang; Guan Yu-Ping; Liang Chu-Jin; Chen Da-Ke

2011-01-01

The driving mechanism of thermohaline circulation is still a controversial topic in physical oceanography. Classic theory is based on Stommel's two-box model under buoyancy constraint. Recently, Guan and Huang proposed a new viewpoint in the framework of energy constraint with a two-box model. We extend it to a three-box model, including the effect of wind-driven circulation. Using this simple model, we further study how ocean mixing impacts on thermohaline circulation under the energy constraint. (geophysics, astronomy, and astrophysics)

The global morphology of the solar wind interaction with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendis, D. A.; Horányi, M.

2014-01-01

The forthcoming Rosetta-Philae mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko provides a novel opportunity to observe the variable nature of the solar wind interaction with a comet over an extended range of heliocentric distance. We use a simple analytical one-dimensional MHD model to estimate the sizes of the two most prominent features in the global structure of the solar wind interaction with a comet. When the heliocentric distance of the comet reaches d ≤ 1.51 AU, we expect a sharp shock to be observed, whose size would increase monotonically as the comet approaches the Sun, reaching a value ≅ 15, 000 km at perihelion (d ≅ 1.29 AU). Upstream of the shock, we expect the velocity-space distribution of the picked up cometary ions to be essentially gyrotropic. A well-defined ionopause is predicted when d ≤1.61 AU, though its size is expected to be only ≅25 km at perihelion, and it is expected to be susceptible to the 'flute' instability due to its small size. Consequently, we expect the magnetic field to penetrate all the way to the surface of the nucleus. We conclude with a brief discussion of the response of the comet's plasma environment to fast temporal variations in the solar wind.

Development of WISH type transportable toilet with water circulation; WISH hoshiki kahangata junkan suiryushiki toire no kaihatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Amagai, B; Imaizumi, S [Leader Co. Ltd., Gunma (Japan); Ushiyama, I [Ashikaga Institute of Technology, Tochigi (Japan); Onai, Y

1997-11-25

Described herein are a proposed ``WISH (wind and solar hybrid) type portable toilet with water circulation,`` in which wind and solar power generation units are combined, and specifications of the toilet unit for 2 persons. It needs 2.2m{sup 3} of initial charge of water, which can be circulated by power stored in the battery unit in 2,600 to 3,000 cycles. Water can be kept at a pH level of 8 or lower, when circulated 200 times or less for a day. This number is increased to 500, when 2 units are installed. Dirty water is treated by an agent and circulated without being exhausted and without releasing offensive odor. Circulating water is recycled while being totally sterilized, whereas sludges are exhausted after being solidified by a powerful coagulant. The toilet unit is equipped with a pump (50W) and fan (75W). The solar unit generates power of at least 1.08Wh/day and the wind unit is equipped with a small-size generator having a rated capacity of 300W. The toilet units are commercialized and showing good results. 2 refs., 5 figs.

Seasonal circulation over the Catalan inner-shelf (northwest Mediterranean Sea)

Science.gov (United States)

Grifoll, Manel; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L.; Pelegrí, Josep L.; Espino, Manuel; Warner, John C.; Sánchez-Arcilla, Agustín

2013-01-01

This study characterizes the seasonal cycle of the Catalan inner-shelf circulation using observations and complementary numerical results. The relation between seasonal circulation and forcing mechanisms is explored through the depth-averaged momentum balance, for the period between May 2010 and April 2011, when velocity observations were partially available. The monthly-mean along-shelf flow is mainly controlled by the along-shelf pressure gradient and by surface and bottom stresses. During summer, fall, and winter, the along-shelf momentum balance is dominated by the barotropic pressure gradient and local winds. During spring, both wind stress and pressure gradient act in the same direction and are compensated by bottom stress. In the cross-shelf direction the dominant forces are in geostrophic balance, consistent with dynamic altimetry data.

Three dimensional global modeling of atmospheric CO2. Final technical report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fung, I.; Hansen, J.; Rind, D.

1983-01-01

A modeling effort has been initiated to study the prospects of extracting information on carbon dioxide sources and sinks from observed CO 2 variations. The approach uses a three-dimensional global transport model, based on winds from a 3-D general circulation model (GCM), to advect CO 2 noninteractively, i.e., as a tracer, with specified sources and sinks of CO 2 at the surface. This report identifies the 3-D model employed in this study and discusses biosphere, ocean and fossil fuel sources and sinks. Some preliminary model results are presented. 14 figures

Potential vorticity dynamics for global scale circulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, C.; Schubert, W.

1994-01-01

One of the most notable advances in extratropical dynamics this decade has been the understanding of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic processes by using potential vorticity dynamics, the so called open-quotes IPV thinking.close quotes This analysis method has also been successfully extended to some tropical atmospheric circulation systems such as hurricanes and the Hadley circulation. The fundamental idea behind such a dynamic system rests with the fact that PV is a tracer-like quantity since it is conserved (in the absence of friction and diabatic heating) following a fluid particle and carries both significant dynamic and thermodynamic information regarding fluid motion. Thus, the prediction and inversion of PV form the most succinct dynamic view of atmospheric and oceanic motions. Furthermore, PV dynamics provides access to many insightful dynamic analyses such as: Propagation of Rossby waves, barotropic and baroclinic instabilities for shear flows, and wave-mean flow interactions. All these features make IPV analysis a very attractive tool for studying geophysical fluid systems

Climate change impacts on wind energy resources in northern Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pryor, S.C.; Barthelmie, R.J.; Kjellstroem, E.

2005-01-01

Energy is a fundamental human need. Heat, light and transport for individuals combined with the needs of industry have created a demand for energy which for the last 100-200 years has been met largely through consumption of fossil fuels leading to altered atmospheric composition and modification of the global climate. These effects will be realised on local scales affecting not just temperature and precipitation but also wind, radiation and other parameters. Annual mean wind speeds and wind energy density over northern Europe were significantly higher at the end of twentieth century than during the middle portion of that century, with the majority of the change being focused on the winter season. To address questions regarding possible future wind climates we employ dynamical and empirical downscaling techniques that seek to take coarse resolution output from General Circulation Models (GCM), run to provide scenarios of future climate, and develop higher resolution regional wind climates. Analyses of the wind climate during the historical record indicate that both the dynamical approach and the empirical approach are capable of generating accurate, robust and quantitative assessments of the wind climate and energy density in northern Europe, and hence that they may be of great utility to those seeking financing for, or risk management of, wind farms in the face of climate uncertainty. The synthesis of application of these downscaling tools to climate projections for northern Europe is that there is no evidence of major changes in the wind energy resource. However, more research is required to quantify the uncertainties in developing these projections and to reduce those uncertainties. Further work should also be conducted to assess the validity of these downscaling approaches in other geographical locations. (BA)

Climatology of atmospheric circulation patterns of Arabian dust in western Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Najafi, Mohammad Saeed; Sarraf, B S; Zarrin, A; Rasouli, A A

2017-08-28

Being in vicinity of vast deserts, the west and southwest of Iran are characterized by high levels of dust events, which have adverse consequences on human health, ecosystems, and environment. Using ground based dataset of dust events in western Iran and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the atmospheric circulation patterns of dust events in the Arabian region and west of Iran are identified. The atmospheric circulation patterns which lead to dust events in the Arabian region and western Iran were classified into two main categories: the Shamal dust events that occurs in warm period of year and the frontal dust events as cold period pattern. In frontal dust events, the western trough or blocking pattern at mid-level leads to frontogenesis, instability, and air uplift at lower levels of troposphere in the southwest of Asia. Non-frontal is other pattern of dust event in the cold period and dust generation are due to the regional circulation systems at the lower level of troposphere. In Shamal wind pattern, the Saudi Arabian anticyclone, Turkmenistan anticyclone, and Zagros thermal low play the key roles in formation of this pattern. Summer and transitional patterns are two sub-categories of summer Shamal wind pattern. In summer trough pattern, the mid-tropospheric trough leads to intensify the surface thermal systems in the Middle East and causes instability and rising of wind speed in the region. In synthetic pattern of Shamal wind and summer trough, dust is created by the impact of a trough in mid-levels of troposphere as well as existing the mentioned regional systems which are contributed in formation of summer Shamal wind pattern.

Numerical simulation of terrain-induced mesoscale circulation in the Chiang Mai area, Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Sathitkunarat, Surachai; Wongwises, Prungchan; Pan-Aram, Rudklao; Zhang, Meigen

2008-11-01

The regional atmospheric modeling system (RAMS) was applied to Chiang Mai province, a mountainous area in Thailand, to study terrain-induced mesoscale circulations. Eight cases in wet and dry seasons under different weather conditions were analyzed to show thermal and dynamic impacts on local circulations. This is the first study of RAMS in Thailand especially investigating the effect of mountainous area on the simulated meteorological data. Analysis of model results indicates that the model can reproduce major features of local circulation and diurnal variations in temperatures. For evaluating the model performance, model results were compared with observed wind speed, wind direction, and temperature monitored at a meteorological tower. Comparison shows that the modeled values are generally in good agreement with observations and that the model captured many of the observed features.

A possible explanation for the divergent projection of ENSO amplitude change under global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lin; Li, Tim; Yu, Yongqiang; Behera, Swadhin K.

2017-12-01

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the greatest climate variability on interannual time scale, yet what controls ENSO amplitude changes under global warming (GW) is uncertain. Here we show that the fundamental factor that controls the divergent projections of ENSO amplitude change within 20 coupled general circulation models that participated in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase-5 is the change of climatologic mean Pacific subtropical cell (STC), whose strength determines the meridional structure of ENSO perturbations and thus the anomalous thermocline response to the wind forcing. The change of the thermocline response is a key factor regulating the strength of Bjerknes thermocline and zonal advective feedbacks, which ultimately lead to the divergent changes in ENSO amplitude. Furthermore, by forcing an ocean general circulation mode with the change of zonal mean zonal wind stress estimated by a simple theoretical model, a weakening of the STC in future is obtained. Such a change implies that ENSO variability might strengthen under GW, which could have a profound socio-economic consequence.

Global assessment of surfing conditions: seasonal, interannual and long-term variability

Science.gov (United States)

Espejo, A.; Losada, I.; Mendez, F.

2012-12-01

International surfing destinations owe a great debt to specific combinations of wind-wave, thermal conditions and local bathymetry. As surf quality depends on a vast number of geophysical variables, a multivariable standardized index on the basis of expert judgment is proposed to analyze surf resource in a worldwide domain. Data needed is obtained by combining several datasets (reanalyses): 60-year satellite-calibrated spectral wave hindcast (GOW, WaveWatchIII), wind fields from NCEP/NCAR, global sea surface temperature from ERSST.v3b, and global tides from TPXO7.1. A summary of the global surf resource is presented, which highlights the high degree of variability in surfable events. According to general atmospheric circulation, results show that west facing low to middle latitude coasts are more suitable for surfing, especially those in Southern Hemisphere. Month to month analysis reveals strong seasonal changes in the occurrence of surfable events, enhancing those in North Atlantic or North Pacific. Interannual variability is investigated by comparing occurrence values with global and regional climate patterns showing a great influence at both, global and regional scales. Analysis of long term trends shows an increase in the probability of surfable events over the west facing coasts on the planet (i.e. + 30 hours/year in California). The resulting maps provide useful information for surfers and surf related stakeholders, coastal planning, education, and basic research.; Figure 1. Global distribution of medium quality (a) and high quality surf conditions probability (b).

Potential climatic impacts and reliability of large-scale offshore wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Chien; Prinn, Ronald G

2011-01-01

The vast availability of wind power has fueled substantial interest in this renewable energy source as a potential near-zero greenhouse gas emission technology for meeting future world energy needs while addressing the climate change issue. However, in order to provide even a fraction of the estimated future energy needs, a large-scale deployment of wind turbines (several million) is required. The consequent environmental impacts, and the inherent reliability of such a large-scale usage of intermittent wind power would have to be carefully assessed, in addition to the need to lower the high current unit wind power costs. Our previous study (Wang and Prinn 2010 Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10 2053) using a three-dimensional climate model suggested that a large deployment of wind turbines over land to meet about 10% of predicted world energy needs in 2100 could lead to a significant temperature increase in the lower atmosphere over the installed regions. A global-scale perturbation to the general circulation patterns as well as to the cloud and precipitation distribution was also predicted. In the later study reported here, we conducted a set of six additional model simulations using an improved climate model to further address the potential environmental and intermittency issues of large-scale deployment of offshore wind turbines for differing installation areas and spatial densities. In contrast to the previous land installation results, the offshore wind turbine installations are found to cause a surface cooling over the installed offshore regions. This cooling is due principally to the enhanced latent heat flux from the sea surface to lower atmosphere, driven by an increase in turbulent mixing caused by the wind turbines which was not entirely offset by the concurrent reduction of mean wind kinetic energy. We found that the perturbation of the large-scale deployment of offshore wind turbines to the global climate is relatively small compared to the case of land

Carbon isotope evidence for the latitudinal distribution and wind speed dependence of the air-sea gas transfer velocity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krakauer, Nir Y.

2006-01-01

The air-sea gas transfer velocity is an important determinant of the exchange of gases, including CO 2 , between the atmosphere and ocean, but the magnitude of the transfer velocity and what factors control it remains poorly known. Here, we use oceanic and atmospheric observations of 14 C and 13 C to constrain the global mean gas transfer velocity as well as the exponent of its wind speed dependence, utilizing the distinct signatures left by the air-sea exchange of 14 CO 2 and 13 CO 2 . While the atmosphere and ocean inventories of 14 CO 2 and 13 CO 2 constrain the mean gas transfer velocity, the latitudinal pattern in the atmospheric and oceanic 14 C and 13 C distributions contain information about the wind speed dependence. We computed the uptake of bomb 14 C by the ocean for different transfer velocity patterns using pulse response functions from an ocean general circulation model, and evaluated the match between the predicted bomb 14 C concentrations and observationally based estimates for the 1970s-1990s. Using a wind speed climatology based on satellite measurements, we solved either for the best-fit global relationship between gas exchange and mean wind speed or for the mean gas transfer velocity over each of 11 ocean regions. We also compared the predicted consequences of different gas exchange relationships on the rate of change and interhemisphere gradient of 14 C in atmospheric CO 2 with tree-ring and atmospheric measurements. Our results suggest that globally, the dependence of the air-sea gas transfer velocity on wind speed is close to linear, with an exponent of 0.5 ± 0.4, and that the global mean gas transfer velocity at a Schmidt number of 660 is 20 ± 3 cm/hr, similar to the results of previous analyses. We find that the air-sea flux of 13 C estimated from atmosphere and ocean observations also suggests a lower than quadratic dependence of gas exchange on wind speed

Surface Currents and Winds at the Delaware Bay Mouth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muscarella, P A; Barton, N P; Lipphardt, B L; Veron, D E; Wong, K C; Kirwan, A D

2011-04-06

Knowledge of the circulation of estuaries and adjacent shelf waters has relied on hydrographic measurements, moorings, and local wind observations usually removed from the region of interest. Although these observations are certainly sufficient to identify major characteristics, they lack both spatial resolution and temporal coverage. High resolution synoptic observations are required to identify important coastal processes at smaller scales. Long observation periods are needed to properly sample low-frequency processes that may also be important. The introduction of high-frequency (HF) radar measurements and regional wind models for coastal studies is changing this situation. Here we analyze synoptic, high-resolution surface winds and currents in the Delaware Bay mouth over an eight-month period (October 2007 through May 2008). The surface currents were measured by two high-frequency radars while the surface winds were extracted from a data-assimilating regional wind model. To illustrate the utility of these monitoring tools we focus on two 45-day periods which previously were shown to present contrasting pictures of the circulation. One, the low-outflow period is from 1 October through 14 November 2007; the other is the high-outflow period from 3 March through 16 April 2008. The large-scale characteristics noted by previous workers are clearly corroborated. Specifically the M2 tide dominates the surface currents, and the Delaware Bay outflow plume is clearly evident in the low frequency currents. Several new aspects of the surface circulation were also identified. These include a map of the spatial variability of the M2 tide (validating an earlier model study), persistent low-frequency cross-mouth flow, and a rapid response of the surface currents to a changing wind field. However, strong wind episodes did not persist long enough to set up a sustained Ekman response.

The U.S. Navy's Global Wind-Wave Models: An Investigation into Sources of Errors in Low-Frequency Energy Predictions

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Rogers, W

2002-01-01

This report describes an investigation to determine the relative importance of various sources of error in the two global-scale models of wind-generated surface waves used operationally by the U.S. Navy...

Red Sea circulation during marine isotope stage 5e

Science.gov (United States)

Siccha, Michael; Biton, Eli; Gildor, Hezi

2015-04-01

We have employed a regional Massachusetts Institute of Technology oceanic general circulation model of the Red Sea to investigate its circulation during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e, the peak of the last interglacial, approximately 125 ka before present. Compared to present-day conditions, MIS 5e was characterized by higher Northern Hemisphere summer insolation, accompanied by increases in air temperature of more than 2°C and global sea level approximately 8 m higher than today. As a consequence of the increased seasonality, intensified monsoonal conditions with increased winds, rainfall, and humidity in the Red Sea region are evident in speleothem records and supported by model simulations. To assess the dominant factors responsible for the observed changes, we conducted several sensitivity experiments in which the MIS 5 boundary conditions or forcing parameters were used individually. Overall, our model simulation for the last interglacial maximum reconstructs a Red Sea that is colder, less ventilated and probably more oligotrophic than at present day. The largest alteration in Red Sea circulation and properties was found for the simulation of the northward displacement and intensification of the African tropical rain belt during MIS 5e, leading to a notable increase in the fresh water flux into the Red Sea. Such an increase significantly reduced the Red Sea salinity and exchange volume of the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. The Red Sea reacted to the MIS 5e insolation forcing by the expected increase in seasonal sea surface temperature amplitude and overall cooling caused by lower temperatures during deep water formation in winter.

Wind Atlas of Bay of Bengal with Satellite Wind Measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nadi, Navila Rahman

footstep towards offshore wind energy analysis for this region. Generally, it is difficult to find offshore wind data relative to the wind turbine hub heights, therefore a starting point is necessary to identify the possible wind power density of the region. In such scenario, Synthetic aperture radars (SAR......The objective of this study is to obtain appropriate offshore location in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh for further development of wind energy. Through analyzing the previous published works, no offshore wind energy estimation has been found here. That is why, this study can be claimed as the first......) have proven useful. In this study, SAR based dataset- ENVISAT ASAR has been used for Wind Atlas generation. Furthermore, a comparative study has been performed with Global Wind Atlas (GWA) to determine a potential offshore wind farm. Additionally, the annual energy production of that offshore windfarm...

Projection of wave conditions in response to climate change: A community approach to global and regional wave downscaling

Science.gov (United States)

Erikson, Li H.; Hemer, M.; Lionello, Piero; Mendez, Fernando J.; Mori, Nobuhito; Semedo, Alvaro; Wang, Xiaolan; Wolf, Judith

2015-01-01

Future changes in wind-wave climate have broad implications for coastal geomorphology and management. General circulation models (GCM) are now routinely used for assessing climatological parameters, but generally do not provide parameterizations of ocean wind-waves. To fill this information gap, a growing number of studies use GCM outputs to independently downscale wave conditions to global and regional levels. To consolidate these efforts and provide a robust picture of projected changes, we present strategies from the community-derived multi-model ensemble of wave climate projections (COWCLIP) and an overview of regional contributions. Results and strategies from one contributing regional study concerning changes along the eastern North Pacific coast are presented.

Wind Loads on Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dyrbye, Claes; Hansen, Svend Ole

Wind loads have to be taken into account when designing civil engineering structures. The wind load on structures can be systematised by means of the wind load chain: wind climate (global), terrain (wind at low height), aerodynamic response (wind load to pressure), mechanical response (wind...... pressure to structural response) and design criteria. Starting with an introduction of the wind load chain, the book moves on to meteorological considerations, atmospheric boundary layer, static wind load, dynamic wind load and scaling laws used in wind-tunnel tests. The dynamic wind load covers vibrations...... induced by wind turbulence, vortex shedding, flutter and galloping. The book gives a comprehensive treatment of wind effects on structures and it will be useful for consulting engineers designing wind-sensitive structures. It will also be valuable for students of civil engineering as textbook...

Innovation paths in wind power

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lema, Rasmus; Nordensvärd, Johan; Urban, Frauke

Denmark and Germany both make substantial investments in low carbon innovation, not least in the wind power sector. These investments in wind energy are driven by the twin objectives of reducing carbon emissions and building up international competitive advantage. Support for wind power dates back....... The ‘Danish Design’ remains the global standard. The direct drive design, while uncommon in Denmark, dominates the German installation base. Direct drive technology has thus emerged as a distinctly German design and sub-trajectory within the overall technological innovation path. When it comes to organising...... global interconnectedness of wind technology markets and the role of emerging new players, such as China and India....

Mid-latitude afforestation shifts general circulation and tropical precipitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Swann, Abigail L S; Fung, Inez Y; Chiang, John C H

2012-01-17

We show in climate model experiments that large-scale afforestation in northern mid-latitudes warms the Northern Hemisphere and alters global circulation patterns. An expansion of dark forests increases the absorption of solar energy and increases surface temperature, particularly in regions where the land surface is unable to compensate with latent heat flux due to water limitation. Atmospheric circulation redistributes the anomalous energy absorbed in the northern hemisphere, in particular toward the south, through altering the Hadley circulation, resulting in the northward displacement of the tropical rain bands. Precipitation decreases over parts of the Amazon basin affecting productivity and increases over the Sahel and Sahara regions in Africa. We find that the response of climate to afforestation in mid-latitudes is determined by the amount of soil moisture available to plants with the greatest warming found in water-limited regions. Mid-latitude afforestation is found to have a small impact on modeled global temperatures and on global CO(2), but regional heating from the increase in forest cover is capable of driving unintended changes in circulation and precipitation. The ability of vegetation to affect remote circulation has implications for strategies for climate mitigation.

Extreme wind estimate for Hornsea wind farm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsén, Xiaoli Guo

The purpose of this study is to provide estimation of the 50-year winds of 10 min and 1-s gust value at hub height of 100 m, as well as the design parameter shear exponent for the Hornsea offshore wind farm. The turbulence intensity required for estimating the gust value is estimated using two...... approaches. One is through the measurements from the wind Doppler lidar, WindCube, which implies serious uncertainty, and the other one is through similarity theory for the atmospheric surface layer where the hub height is likely to belong to during strong storms. The turbulence intensity for storm wind...... strength is taken as 0.1. The shear exponents at several heights were calculated from the measurements. The values at 100 m are less than the limit given by IEC standard for all sectors. The 50-year winds have been calculated from various global reanalysis and analysis products as well as mesoscale models...

Air–Sea Interaction and Horizontal Circulation in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Bower, Amy S.

2015-01-01

This chapter discusses the horizontal circulation of the Red Sea and the surface meteorology that drives it, and recent satellite and in situ measurements from the region are used to illustrate properties of the Red Sea circulation and the atmospheric forcing. The surface winds over the Red Sea have rich spatial structure, with variations in speed and direction on both synoptic and seasonal timescales. Wintertime mountain-gap wind jets drive large heat losses and evaporation at some locations, with as much as 9 cm of evaporation in a week. The near-surface currents in the Red Sea exhibit similarly rich variability, with an energetic and complex flow field dominated by persistent, quasi-stationary eddies, and convoluted boundary currents. At least one quasi-stationary eddy pair is driven largely by winds blowing through a gap in the mountains (Tokar Gap), but numerical simulations suggest that much of the eddy field is driven by the interaction of the buoyancy-driven flow with topography. Recent measurements suggest that Gulf of Aden Intermediate Water (GAIW) penetrates further northward into the Red Sea than previously reported.

Wind speed reductions by large-scale wind turbine deployments lower turbine efficiencies and set low wind power potentials

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Lee; Kleidon, Axel

2017-04-01

Wind turbines generate electricity by removing kinetic energy from the atmosphere. Large numbers of wind turbines are likely to reduce wind speeds, which lowers estimates of electricity generation from what would be presumed from unaffected conditions. Here, we test how well wind power potentials that account for this effect can be estimated without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. We first use simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) that explicitly simulates the effects of wind turbines to derive wind power limits (GCM estimate), and compare them to a simple approach derived from the climatological conditions without turbines [vertical kinetic energy (VKE) estimate]. On land, we find strong agreement between the VKE and GCM estimates with respect to electricity generation rates (0.32 and 0.37 We m-2) and wind speed reductions by 42 and 44%. Over ocean, the GCM estimate is about twice the VKE estimate (0.59 and 0.29 We m-2) and yet with comparable wind speed reductions (50 and 42%). We then show that this bias can be corrected by modifying the downward momentum flux to the surface. Thus, large-scale limits to wind power can be derived from climatological conditions without explicitly simulating atmospheric dynamics. Consistent with the GCM simulations, the approach estimates that only comparatively few land areas are suitable to generate more than 1 We m-2 of electricity and that larger deployment scales are likely to reduce the expected electricity generation rate of each turbine. We conclude that these atmospheric effects are relevant for planning the future expansion of wind power.

Dynamical characteristics of the seasonal circulations over the Korea peninsula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-10-01

This paper reports dynamical characteristics of the seasonal circulations over the Korean peninsula. It consists of summary, research method, result, consideration and conclusion. It introduces the method of research ; characteristics of circulation over seasonal wind in Asia, characteristic of upper jet stream related cold wave and monsoon in East Asia and dynamics of pulsation and maintain of high atmospheric pressure in siberia in winter. It was reported by Korea science foundation in 1989.

Reduced connection between the East Asian Summer Monsoon and Southern Hemisphere Circulation on interannual timescales under intense global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Tianlei; Guo, Pinwen; Cheng, Jun; Hu, Aixue; Lin, Pengfei; Yu, Yongqiang

2018-03-01

Previous studies show a close relationship between the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) circulation on interannual timescales. In this study, we investigate whether this close relationship will change under intensive greenhouse-gas effect by analyzing simulations under two different climate background states: preindustrial era and Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 stabilization from the Community Climate System Model Version 4 (CCSM4). Results show a significantly reduced relationship under stabilized RCP8.5 climate state, such a less correlated EASM with the sea level pressure in the southern Indian Ocean and the SH branch of local Hadley Cell. Further analysis suggests that the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) due to this warming leads to a less vigorous northward meridional heat transport, a decreased intertropical temperature contrast in boreal summer, which produces a weaker cross-equatorial Hadley Cell in the monsoonal region and a reduced Interhemispheric Mass Exchange (IME). Since the monsoonal IME acts as a bridge connecting EASM and SH circulation, the reduced IME weakens this connection. By performing freshwater hosing experiment using the Flexible Global Ocean—Atmosphere—Land System model, Grid-point Version 2 (FGOALS-g2), we show a weakened relationship between the EASM and SH circulation as in CCSM4 when AMOC collapses. Our results suggest that a substantially weakened AMOC is the main driver leading to the EASM, which is less affected by SH circulation in the future warmer climate.

Temperature and Wind Measurements in Venus Lower Thermosphere between 2007 and 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Krause, Pia; Sornig, Manuela; Wischnewski, Carolin; Sonnabend, Guido; Stangier, Tobias; Herrmann, Maren; Kostiuk, Theodor; Livengood, Timothy A.; Pätzold, Martin

2016-10-01

The structure of Venus atmosphere and its thermal and dynamical behavior was intensely studied during the past decade by groundbased and the space mission Venus Express. A comprehensive understanding of the atmosphere, however, is still missing. Direct measurements of atmospheric parameters on various time scales and at different locations across the planet are essential for better understanding and to validate global circulation models. Line-resolved spectroscopy of infrared CO2 transitions provides a powerful tool to accomplish measurements of temperature and wind speed within the neutral atmosphere, using Doppler line-broadening and Doppler shift. Temperature is the motor to drive circulation, and wind speed is the result. Measuring both provides both the basis and an empirical test for circulation models. Non-LTE emission lines at 10 µm that originate from a pressure level of 1μbar, ~110 km altitude, probe the lower thermosphere and are measurable at high spectral resolution using the infrared heterodyne spectrometers THIS (University of Cologne), HIPWAC (NASA GSFC) and MILAHI (Tohoku University).Thermal and dynamical structures on the Venus day side are retrieved using a newly developed method that considers the influence of the spectrometer field-of-view (FoV) and the dispersion of spectral properties across the FoV. New conclusions from the ground-based observing campaigns between 2007 and 2015 will be presented based on this retrieval methodology. The spatial resolution on the planetary disk is different for each campaign, depending on the apparent diameter of the planet and the diffraction-limited FoV of the telescope. Previously, a comparison of the observing campaigns was limited due to the difference in spatial resolution. The new retrieval method enables comparing observations with different observing geometry. The observations yield a large quantity of temperature and wind measurements at different positions on the planetary disk, which supports

Turbulent wind field characterization and re-generation based on pitot tube measurements mounted on a wind turbine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Mads Mølgaard; Larsen, Torben J.; Aagaard Madsen, Helge

2015-01-01

models that compensate for axial and tangential induction, approximated by blade element momentum theory, radial expansion of the inflow, rotor tilt, dynamic and skew inflow, tip loss, as well as braking and circulation of the flow local to the airfoil. The wind speeds measured on the rotating blades...... the measured wind speeds at the recording position. In the theoretical part of this study a quite good agreement is seen between load sensors on a turbine model exposed to the reference and the re-generated turbulence field. Finally the method is applied to full scale measurements and reasonable wind shear...

An Oceanic General Circulation Model (OGCM) investigation of the Red Sea circulation, 1. Exchange between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Sofianos, Sarantis S.; Johns, William E.

2002-11-01

The mechanisms involved in the seasonal exchange between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean are studied using an Oceanic General Circulation Model (OGCM), namely the Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM). The model reproduces the basic characteristics of the seasonal circulation observed in the area of the strait of Bab el Mandeb. There is good agreement between model results and available observations on the strength of the exchange and the characteristics of the water masses involved, as well as the seasonal flow pattern. During winter, this flow consists of a typical inverse estuarine circulation, while during summer, the surface flow reverses, there is an intermediate inflow of relatively cold and fresh water, and the hypersaline outflow at the bottom of the strait is significantly reduced. Additional experiments with different atmospheric forcing (seasonal winds, seasonal thermohaline air-sea fluxes, or combinations) were performed in order to assess the role of the atmospheric forcing fields in the exchange flow at Bab el Mandeb. The results of both the wind- and thermohaline-driven experiments exhibit a strong seasonality at the area of the strait, which is in phase with the observations. However, it is the combination of both the seasonal pattern of the wind stress and the seasonal thermohaline forcing that can reproduce the observed seasonal variability at the strait. The importance of the seasonal cycle of the thermohaline forcing on the exchange flow pattern is also emphasized by these results. In the experiment where the thermohaline forcing is represented by its annual mean, the strength of the exchange is reduced almost by half.

Wind energy in China. Current scenario and future perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Changliang, Xia; Zhanfeng, Song

2009-01-01

Wind power in China registered a record level of expansion recently, and has doubled its total capacity every year since 2004. Many experts believe that China will be central to the future of the global wind energy market. Consequently, the growth pattern of wind power in China may be crucial to the further development of the global wind market. This paper firstly presented an overview of wind energy potential in China and reviewed the national wind power development course in detail. Based on the installed wind capacity in China over the past 18 years and the technical potential of wind energy resources, the growth pattern was modeled in this study for the purpose of prospect analysis, in order to obtain projections concerning the development potential. The future perspectives of wind energy development in China are predicted and analyzed. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of wind power in China and some insights into the prospects of China's wind power market, which is emerging as a new superpower in the global wind industry. (author)

Tidal winds from the mesosphere, lower thermosphere global radar network during the second LTCS campaign: December 1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manson, A.H.; Meek, C.E.; Avery, S.K.; Fraser, G.J.; Vincent, R.A.; Phillips, A.; Clark, R.R.; Schminder, R.; Kurschner, D.; Kazimirovsky, E.S.

1991-01-01

Winds and tides were measured by nine MLT (mesophere, lower thermosphere) radars with locations between 70 degree N and 78 degree S, including an equatorial station at Christmas Island, 2 degree N (Avery et al., 1990). The mean winds were eastward (westward) in the northern (southern) hemisphere mesophere, consistent with midwinter circulations. For the 12-hour (semidiurnal) tide, observations and the model of Forbes and Vial (1989) were in generally good agreement: in both cases northward components were closer to being in phase in the two hemispheres, and winter wavelengths were shorter than those of the midlatitude summer. Major differences were large (small) amplitudes at 70 degree N for model(observations); and poor agreement of equatorial tidal profiles. For the 24-hour (diurnal tide), the radar observations and model of Forbes and Hagan (1988) were in useful agreement in the summer hemisphere. However, the short (long) wavelengths at mid (high) latitudes of the model's winter hemisphere were not observed during LTCS (lower Thermosphere Coupling Study) 2, nor in climatologies for December. Suggestions as to the reason for this disparity are presented

Schwarz-Christoffel Conformal Mapping based Grid Generation for Global Oceanic Circulation Models

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Shiming

2015-04-01

We propose new grid generation algorithms for global ocean general circulation models (OGCMs). Contrary to conventional, analytical forms based dipolar or tripolar grids, the new algorithm are based on Schwarz-Christoffel (SC) conformal mapping with prescribed boundary information. While dealing with the conventional grid design problem of pole relocation, it also addresses more advanced issues of computational efficiency and the new requirements on OGCM grids arisen from the recent trend of high-resolution and multi-scale modeling. The proposed grid generation algorithm could potentially achieve the alignment of grid lines to coastlines, enhanced spatial resolution in coastal regions, and easier computational load balance. Since the generated grids are still orthogonal curvilinear, they can be readily 10 utilized in existing Bryan-Cox-Semtner type ocean models. The proposed methodology can also be applied to the grid generation task for regional ocean modeling when complex land-ocean distribution is present.

Wind energy and Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Coskun, Aynur Aydin; Türker, Yavuz Özhan

2012-03-01

The global energy requirement for sustaining economic activities, meeting social needs and social development is increasing daily. Environmentally friendly, renewable energy resources are an alternative to the primary non-renewable energy resources, which devastate ecosystems in order to meet increasing demand. Among renewable energy sources such as hydropower, biopower, geothermal power and solar power, wind power offers distinct advantages to Turkey. There is an increasing tendency toward wind globally and the European Union adjusted its legal regulations in this regard. As a potential EU Member state, Turkey is going through a similar process. The number of institutional and legal regulations concerning wind power has increased in recent years; technical infrastructure studies were completed, and some important steps were taken in this regard. This study examines the way in which Turkey has developed support for wind power, presents a SWOT analysis of the wind power sector in Turkey and a projection was made for the concrete success expected to be accomplished in the future.

Interpretation of surface-water circulation, Aransas Pass, Texas, using Landsat imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Finley, R. J.; Baumgardner, R. W., Jr.

1980-01-01

The development of plumes of turbid surface water in the vicinity of Aransas Pass, Texas has been analyzed using Landsat imagery. The shape and extent of plumes present in the Gulf of Mexico is dependent on the wind regime and astronomical tide prior to and at the time of satellite overpass. The best developed plumes are evident when brisk northerly winds resuspend bay-bottom muds and flow through Aransas Pass is increased by wind stress. Seaward diversion of nearshore waters by the inlet jetties was also observed. A knowledge of surface-water circulation through Aransas Pass under various wind conditions is potentially valuable for monitoring suspended and surface pollutants

Permanent magnet machine with windings having strand transposition

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Ronghai; Jansen, Patrick Lee

2009-04-21

This document discusses, among other things, a stator with transposition between the windings or coils. The coils are free from transposition to increase the fill factor of the stator slots. The transposition at the end connections between an inner coil and an outer coil provide transposition to reduce circulating current loss. The increased fill factor reduces further current losses. Such a stator is used in a dual rotor, permanent magnet machine, for example, in a compressor pump, wind turbine gearbox, wind turbine rotor.

Ocean circulation and climate during the past 120,000 years

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmstorf, Stefan

2002-09-01

Oceans cover more than two-thirds of our blue planet. The waters move in a global circulation system, driven by subtle density differences and transporting huge amounts of heat. Ocean circulation is thus an active and highly nonlinear player in the global climate game. Increasingly clear evidence implicates ocean circulation in abrupt and dramatic climate shifts, such as sudden temperature changes in Greenland on the order of 5-10 °C and massive surges of icebergs into the North Atlantic Ocean - events that have occurred repeatedly during the last glacial cycle.

The Nature of Global Large-scale Sea Level Variability in Relation to Atmospheric Forcing: A Modeling Study

Science.gov (United States)

Fukumori, I.; Raghunath, R.; Fu, L. L.

1996-01-01

The relation between large-scale sea level variability and ocean circulation is studied using a numerical model. A global primitive equaiton model of the ocean is forced by daily winds and climatological heat fluxes corresponding to the period from January 1992 to February 1996. The physical nature of the temporal variability from periods of days to a year, are examined based on spectral analyses of model results and comparisons with satellite altimetry and tide gauge measurements.

Northerly surface winds over the eastern North Pacific Ocean in spring and summer

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, S.V.; Cayan, D.R.; Graham, N.E.; Georgakakos, K.P.

2008-01-01

Persistent spring and summer northerly surface winds are the defining climatological feature of the western coast of North America, especially south of the Oregon coast. Northerly surface winds are important for upwelling and a vast array of other biological, oceanic, and atmospheric processes. Intermittence in northerly coastal surface wind is characterized and wind events are quantitatively defined using coastal buoy data south of Cape Mendocino on the northern California coast. The defined wind events are then used as a basis for composites in order to explain the spatial evolution of various atmospheric and oceanic processes. Wind events involve large-scale changes in the three-dimensional atmospheric circulation including the eastern North Pacific subtropical anticyclone and southeast trade winds. Composites of QSCAT satellite scatterometer wind estimates from 1999 to 2005 based on a single coastal buoy indicate that wind events typically last 72-96 h and result in anomalies in surface wind and Ekman pumping that extend over 1000 kin from the west coast of North America. It may be useful to consider ocean circulation and dependent ecosystem dynamics and the distribution of temperature, moisture, and aerosols in the atmospheric boundary layer in the context of wind events defined herein. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Bony, Sandrine; Stevens, Bjorn; Ament, Felix; Bigorre, Sebastien; Chazette, Patrick; Crewell, Susanne; Delanoë, Julien; Emanuel, Kerry; Farrell, David; Flamant, Cyrille; Gross, Silke; Hirsch, Lutz; Karstensen, Johannes; Mayer, Bernhard; Nuijens, Louise; Ruppert, James H.; Sandu, Irina; Siebesma, Pier; Speich, Sabrina; Szczap, Frédéric; Totems, Julien; Vogel, Raphaela; Wendisch, Manfred; Wirth, Martin

2017-11-01

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of trade-cumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of trade-cumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air-sea interactions and convective organization.

EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Bony, Sandrine; Stevens, Bjorn; Ament, Felix; Bigorre, Sebastien; Chazette, Patrick; Crewell, Susanne; Delanoë, Julien; Emanuel, Kerry; Farrell, David; Flamant, Cyrille; Gross, Silke; Hirsch, Lutz; Karstensen, Johannes; Mayer, Bernhard; Nuijens, Louise; Ruppert, James H.; Sandu, Irina; Siebesma, Pier; Speich, Sabrina; Szczap, Frédéric; Totems, Julien; Vogel, Raphaela; Wendisch, Manfred; Wirth, Martin

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of tradecumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of tradecumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air-sea interactions and convective organization.

Efficient, space-based, PM 100W thulium fiber laser for pumping Q-switched 2μm Ho:YLF for global winds and carbon dioxide lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Engin, Doruk; Mathason, Brian; Storm, Mark

2017-08-01

Global wind measurements are critically needed to improve and extend NOAA weather forecasting that impacts U.S. economic activity such as agriculture crop production, as well as hurricane forecasting, flooding, and FEMA disaster planning.1 NASA and the 2007 National Research Council (NRC) Earth Science Decadal Study have also identified global wind measurements as critical for global change research. NASA has conducted aircraft-based wind lidar measurements using 2 um Ho:YLF lasers, which has shown that robust wind measurements can be made. Fibertek designed and demonstrated a high-efficiency, 100 W average power continuous wave (CW) 1940 nm thulium (Tm)- doped fiber laser bread-board system meeting all requirements for a NASA Earth Science spaceflight 2 μm Ho:YLF pump laser. Our preliminary design shows that it is possible to package the laser for high-reliability spaceflight operation in an ultra-compact 2″x8″x14″ size and weight <8.5 lbs. A spaceflight 100 W polarization maintaining (PM) Tm laser provides a path to space for a pulsed, Q-switched 2 μm Ho:YLF laser with 30-80 mJ/pulse range at 100-200 Hz repletion rates.

Multiple states in the late Eocene ocean circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Baatsen, M. L. J.; von der Heydt, A. S.; Kliphuis, M.; Viebahn, J.; Dijkstra, H. A.

2018-04-01

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) marks a major step within the Cenozoic climate in going from a greenhouse into an icehouse state, with the formation of a continental-scale Antarctic ice sheet. The roles of steadily decreasing CO2 concentrations versus changes in ocean circulation at the EOT are still debated and the threshold for Antarctic glaciation is obscured by uncertainties in global geometry. Here, a detailed study of the late Eocene ocean circulation is carried out using an ocean general circulation model under two slightly different geography reconstructions of the middle-to-late Eocene (38 Ma). Using the same atmospheric forcing, both geographies give a profoundly different equilibrium ocean circulation state. The underlying reason for this sensitivity is the presence of multiple equilibria characterised by either North or South Pacific deep water formation. A possible shift from a southern towards a northern overturning circulation would result in significant changes in the global heat distribution and consequently make the Southern Hemisphere climate more susceptible for significant cooling and ice sheet formation on Antarctica.

Performance of the CORDEX regional climate models in simulating offshore wind and wind potential

Science.gov (United States)

Kulkarni, Sumeet; Deo, M. C.; Ghosh, Subimal

2018-03-01

This study is oriented towards quantification of the skill addition by regional climate models (RCMs) in the parent general circulation models (GCMs) while simulating wind speed and wind potential with particular reference to the Indian offshore region. To arrive at a suitable reference dataset, the performance of wind outputs from three different reanalysis datasets is evaluated. The comparison across the RCMs and their corresponding parent GCMs is done on the basis of annual/seasonal wind statistics, intermodel bias, wind climatology, and classes of wind potential. It was observed that while the RCMs could simulate spatial variability of winds, well for certain subregions, they generally failed to replicate the overall spatial pattern, especially in monsoon and winter. Various causes of biases in RCMs were determined by assessing corresponding maps of wind vectors, surface temperature, and sea-level pressure. The results highlight the necessity to carefully assess the RCM-yielded winds before using them for sensitive applications such as coastal vulnerability and hazard assessment. A supplementary outcome of this study is in form of wind potential atlas, based on spatial distribution of wind classes. This could be beneficial in suitably identifying viable subregions for developing offshore wind farms by intercomparing both the RCM and GCM outcomes. It is encouraging that most of the RCMs and GCMs indicate that around 70% of the Indian offshore locations in monsoon would experience mean wind potential greater than 200 W/m2.

Symmetry Reductions of a 1.5-Layer Ocean Circulation Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Fei; Lou Senyue

2007-01-01

The (2+1)-dimensional nonlinear 1.5-layer ocean circulation model without external wind stress forcing is analyzed by using the classical Lie group approach. Some Lie point symmetries and their corresponding two-dimensional reduction equations are obtained.

Circulation in the SAV, Shelf of Veracruz, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Zavala-Hidalgo, J.; Martinez-Lopez, B.; Fernandez-Eguiarte, A.; de Buen, R.; Rojas, J.

2007-05-01

Data from current meter, hydrographic measurements, and numerical modeling are analyzed to determine the circulation patterns in the Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano (SAV), Veracruz, Mexico, region. Results show that the main forcing in the region is the along-coast wind stress component. Tides contribute with one order of magnitude less energy, during the fall-winter period. Two main regimes are identified: one between the coast and the 20 m isobath, with waters of large turbidity and small influence from rivers, and the other between the 20 m isobath and the external shelf, with clearer waters. Stratified water column with low temperature upwelled waters near the bottom are observed when southeasterly winds are present. Downwelling and southeastward currents are associated with northerly winds linked with northers.

Performance of spanish wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lago, C.

1995-01-01

In this document we can find a statistical evaluation for the wind energy generation from each spanish wind farm referred to 1994, going on with the work that has been carried out since 1992, by initiative of the Wind Energy Division from Renewable Energy Institute. The purpose of this work is to contribute with interesting information for the wind environment and offer a global view from monthly performances of different wind farms. (Author)

Plausible Effect of Weather on Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation with a Coupled General Circulation Model

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zedong; Wan, Xiuquan

2018-04-01

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a vital component of the global ocean circulation and the heat engine of the climate system. Through the use of a coupled general circulation model, this study examines the role of synoptic systems on the AMOC and presents evidence that internally generated high-frequency, synoptic-scale weather variability in the atmosphere could play a significant role in maintaining the overall strength and variability of the AMOC, thereby affecting climate variability and change. Results of a novel coupling technique show that the strength and variability of the AMOC are greatly reduced once the synoptic weather variability is suppressed in the coupled model. The strength and variability of the AMOC are closely linked to deep convection events at high latitudes, which could be strongly affected by the weather variability. Our results imply that synoptic weather systems are important in driving the AMOC and its variability. Thus, interactions between atmospheric weather variability and AMOC may be an important feedback mechanism of the global climate system and need to be taken into consideration in future climate change studies.

Panorama 2016 - Offshore wind power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinot, Simon

2015-11-01

While onshore wind power is a rapidly growing global industry, the offshore wind power market remains in its consolidation and globalization phase. This most mature of renewable marine energies continues to develop and can no longer be considered a niche industry. This fact sheet evaluates the market over the last several years, looking at its potential and its current rank in terms of electricity production costs. (author)

Early concepts and charts of ocean circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, R. G.; Stramma, L.; Kortum, G.

little about them was reported in the Classical works. Following the dark and Middle Ages, when little progress was made, the voyages of discovery brought startling observations of many of Earth's most important ocean currents, such as the North and South Equatorial currents, the Gulf Stream, the Agulhas, Kuroshio, Peru, and Guinea currents, and others. The Gulf Stream appears to have been mapped as early as 1525 (Ribeiro) on the basis of Spanish pilot charts. Some currents were found to be westward, in the direction of the primum mobile as expected by theologians and philosophers, while others were not. The fifteenth through seventeenth centuries were marked by attainments of knowledge that increasingly taxed the abilities of science writers to reconcile new information with accepted doctrine. Consequences of this were descriptions of ocean circulation that questioned doctrine, yet were limited by it (Martyr; Gilbert; Bourne; Varen), while other descriptions disdainfully violated observation (Kircher; Happel). The expectation of a continuous westward oceanic flow around Earth in the direction of the primum mobile was so pervasive that it became central to arguments about a need for a passage through or around the Canadian north, and thus weighed significantly on the exploration and mapping of North America. Religious influences and the conceptual importance of the primum mobile waned by the close of the Renaissance and wind came to be seen as the primary cause of ocean currents (Dampier). The Gulf Stream (Franklin) and other North Atlantic flow patterns (de Brahm), as well as the southern Agulhas Current (Rennell), were mapped in the mid-to-late eighteenth century. Significant advances beyond these in determining the global ocean circulation came only after the routine determination of longitude at sea was instituted. The introduction of the marine chronometer in the late eighteenth century (Harrison) made this possible. By the end of the eighteenth century it was

Power electronic solutions for interfacing offshore wind turbine generators to medium voltage DC collection grids

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel, Michael T.

Here in the early 21st century humanity is continuing to seek improved quality of life for citizens throughout the world. This global advancement is providing more people than ever with access to state-of-the-art services in areas such as transportation, entertainment, computing, communication, and so on. Providing these services to an ever-growing population while considering the constraints levied by continuing climate change will require new frontiers of clean energy to be developed. At the time of this writing, offshore wind has been proven as both a politically and economically agreeable source of clean, sustainable energy by northern European nations with many wind farms deployed in the North, Baltic, and Irish Seas. Modern offshore wind farms are equipped with an electrical system within the farm itself to aggregate the energy from all turbines in the farm before it is transmitted to shore. This collection grid is traditionally a 3-phase medium voltage alternating current (MVAC) system. Due to reactive power and other practical constraints, it is preferable to use a medium voltage direct current (MVDC) collection grid when siting farms >150 km from shore. To date, no offshore wind farm features an MVDC collection grid. However, MVDC collection grids are expected to be deployed with future offshore wind farms as they are sited further out to sea. In this work it is assumed that many future offshore wind farms may utilize an MVDC collection grid to aggregate electrical energy generated by individual wind turbines. As such, this work presents both per-phase and per-pole power electronic converter systems suitable for interfacing individual wind turbines to such an MVDC collection grid. Both interfaces are shown to provide high input power factor at the wind turbine while providing DC output current to the MVDC grid. Common mode voltage stress and circulating currents are investigated, and mitigation strategies are provided for both interfaces. A power sharing

Global warming hiatus contributed to the increased occurrence of intense tropical cyclones in the coastal regions along East Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jiuwei; Zhan, Ruifen; Wang, Yuqing

2018-04-16

The recent global warming hiatus (GWH) was characterized by a La Niña-like cooling in the tropical Eastern Pacific accompanied with the Indian Ocean and the tropical Atlantic Ocean warming. Here we show that the recent GWH contributed significantly to the increased occurrence of intense tropical cyclones in the coastal regions along East Asia since 1998. The GWH associated sea surface temperature anomalies triggered a pair of anomalous cyclonic and anticyclonic circulations and equatorial easterly anomalies over the Northwest Pacific, which favored TC genesis and intensification over the western Northwest Pacific but suppressed TC genesis and intensification over the southeastern Northwest Pacific due to increased vertical wind shear and anticyclonic circulation anomalies. Results from atmospheric general circulation model experiments demonstrate that the Pacific La Niña-like cooling dominated the Indian Ocean and the tropical Atlantic Ocean warming in contributing to the observed GWH-related anomalous atmospheric circulation over the Northwest Pacific.

Secondary current properties generated by wind-induced water waves in experimental conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michio Sanjou

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Secondary currents such as the Langmuir circulation are of high interest in natural rivers and the ocean because they have striking impacts on scour, sedimentation, and mass transport. Basic characteristics have been well-studied in straight open-channel flows. However, little is known regarding secondary circulation induced by wind waves. The presented study describes the generation properties of wind waves observed in the laboratory tank. Wind-induced water waves are known to produce large scale circulations. The phenomenon is observed together with high-speed and low-speed streaks, convergence and divergence zones, respectively. Therefore, it is important to determine the hydrodynamic properties of secondary currents for wind-induced water waves within rivers and lakes. In this study, using two high-speed CMOS cameras, stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV measurements were conducted in order to reveal the distribution of all three components of velocity vectors. The experiments allowed us to investigate the three-dimensional turbulent structure under water waves and the generation mechanism of large-scale circulations. Additionally, a third CMOS camera was used to measure the spanwise profile of thefree-surface elevation. The time-series of velocity components and the free-surface were obtained simultaneously. From our experiments, free-surface variations were found to influence the instantaneous velocity distributions of the cross-sectional plane. We also considered thegeneration process by the phase analysis related to gravity waves and compared the contribution of the apparent stress.

Wind energy. To produce electricity with the wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bareau, Helene

2015-11-01

This guide addresses the different aspects of wind-based power generation. It outlines the role of wind energy to meet objectives related to the share of renewable energies in the French energy mix, that wind energy is actually replacing fossil energies, that it is based on local resources within higher safety and less wastage, that current advances are made to integrate wind energy production into the grid, and that it is a solution to diversify energy production. Some figures are presented and commented, regarding onshore wind energy production in France, the location of wind farms, and wind energy production in comparison with other renewable sources. The operation of a wind turbine is described and the different types of wind turbines are evoked. The issue of wind farm planning with citizen participation is addressed: regional planning, studies of pre-feasibility for location selection, procedure, and content of the impact study (radars, fauna and flora, landscapes, safety, health). Other features are outlined: a planned dismantling, and a globally favourable perception. The next part addresses offshore wind energy: the interesting potential of stronger and more reliable wind at sea (European situation, French opportunities, elements comprised in an offshore wind farm), impacts (on marine ecosystems, on neighbouring localities, and interests for visitors). Economic aspects are then addressed: cost and profitability, economic spin-offs, and perspectives. The last part concerns individuals and the possibilities to participate to wind farm projects or to invest in small wind turbines with some prerequisites (constant and steady winds, installation assessment, required expertise, indispensable preliminary steps, costs, aids and profitability)

The Global and Local Climatic Response to the Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Huybers, K. M.; Singh, H.; Steiger, N. J.; Frierson, D. M.; Steig, E. J.; Bitz, C. M.

2014-12-01

Glaciologists have suggested that a relatively small external forcing may compromise the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Further, there is compelling physical evidence that the WAIS has collapsed in the past, at times when the mean global temperature was only a few degrees warmer than it is today. In addition to a rapid increase in global sea level, the collapse of the WAIS could also affect the global circulation of the atmosphere. Ice sheets are some of the largest topographic features on Earth, causing large regional anomalies in albedo and radiative balance. Our work uses idealized aquaplanet models in tandem with a fully coupled ocean/atmosphere/sea-ice model (CCSM4) to compare the atmospheric, radiative, and oceanic response to a complete loss of the WAIS. Initial findings indicate that the loss of the WAIS leads to a weakening and equator-ward shift of the zonal winds, a development of strong zonal asymmetries in the meridional wind, and a northward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. We aim to characterize how the local and global climate is affected by the presence of the WAIS, and how changes in the distribution of Southern Hemisphere ice may be represented in the proxy record.

Using Green's Functions to initialize and adjust a global, eddying ocean biogeochemistry general circulation model

Science.gov (United States)

Brix, H.; Menemenlis, D.; Hill, C.; Dutkiewicz, S.; Jahn, O.; Wang, D.; Bowman, K.; Zhang, H.

2015-11-01

The NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Flux Project aims to attribute changes in the atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide to spatially resolved fluxes by utilizing the full suite of NASA data, models, and assimilation capabilities. For the oceanic part of this project, we introduce ECCO2-Darwin, a new ocean biogeochemistry general circulation model based on combining the following pre-existing components: (i) a full-depth, eddying, global-ocean configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm), (ii) an adjoint-method-based estimate of ocean circulation from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II (ECCO2) project, (iii) the MIT ecosystem model "Darwin", and (iv) a marine carbon chemistry model. Air-sea gas exchange coefficients and initial conditions of dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and oxygen are adjusted using a Green's Functions approach in order to optimize modeled air-sea CO2 fluxes. Data constraints include observations of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) for 2009-2010, global air-sea CO2 flux estimates, and the seasonal cycle of the Takahashi et al. (2009) Atlas. The model sensitivity experiments (or Green's Functions) include simulations that start from different initial conditions as well as experiments that perturb air-sea gas exchange parameters and the ratio of particulate inorganic to organic carbon. The Green's Functions approach yields a linear combination of these sensitivity experiments that minimizes model-data differences. The resulting initial conditions and gas exchange coefficients are then used to integrate the ECCO2-Darwin model forward. Despite the small number (six) of control parameters, the adjusted simulation is significantly closer to the data constraints (37% cost function reduction, i.e., reduction in the model-data difference, relative to the baseline simulation) and to independent observations (e.g., alkalinity). The adjusted air-sea gas

The dependence of wintertime Mediterranean precipitation on the atmospheric circulation response to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Zappa, Giuseppe; Hoskins, Brian; Shepherd, Ted

2016-04-01

Climate models indicate a future wintertime precipitation reduction in the Mediterranean region which may have large socio-economic impacts. However, there is large uncertainty in the amplitude of the projected precipitation reduction and this limits the possibility to inform effective adaptation planning. We analyse CMIP5 climate model output to quantify the role of atmospheric circulation in the precipitation change and the time of emergence of the Mediterranean precipitation response. It is found that a simple circulation index, i.e. the 850 hPa zonal wind (U850) in North Africa, well describes the year to year fluctuations in the area-averaged Mediterranean precipitation, with positive (i.e. westerly) U850 anomalies in North Africa being associated with positive precipitation anomalies. Under climate change, U850 in North Africa and the Mediterranean precipitation are both projected to decrease consistently with the relationship found in the inter-annual variability. This enables us to estimate that about 85% of the CMIP5 mean precipitation response and 80% of the variance in the inter-model spread are related to changes in the atmospheric circulation. In contrast, there is no significant correlation between the mean precipitation response and the global-mean surface warming across the models. We also find that the precipitation response to climate change might already emerge from internal variability by 2025 relative to 1960-1990 according to the climate models with a large circulation response. This implies that it might soon be possible to test model projections using observations. Finally, some of the mechanisms which are important for the Mediterranean circulation response in the CMIP5 models are discussed.

Wind energy power plants (wind farms) review and analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newbold, K B; McKeary, M [McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (Canada). McMaster Inst. of Environment and Health

2010-07-01

Global wind power capacity has increased by an average cumulative rate of over 30 percent over the past 10 years. Although wind energy emits no air pollutants and facilities can often share spaces with other activities, public opposition to wind power development is an ongoing cause of concern. Development at the local level in Ontario has been met with fierce opposition on the basis of health concerns, aesthetic values, potential environmental impacts, and economic risks. This report was prepared for the Town of Wasaga Beach, and examined some of the controversy surrounding wind power developments through a review of evidence found in the scientific literature. The impacts of wind power developments related to noise, shadow flicker, avian mortality, bats, and real estate values were evaluated. The study included details of interviews conducted with individuals from Ontario localities where wind farms were located. 77 refs., 1 tab., 1 fig., 2 appendices.

Renewable energy from wind and sun. Status quo and development perspectives at the global level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graichen, Patrick; Grotewold, Lars; Kordowski, Klaus; Wesemann, Philipp

2015-01-01

The global market for renewable energy technologies has experienced strong growth since the year 2000. In 2013 newly installed electricity production plants based on renewable energy for the first time outnumbered the aggregate of newly installed plants based on coal, gas or nuclear energy. In more and more parts of the world, wind and solar energy plants are becoming the most cost-effective means of electricity production. As renewable energy resources begin to claim significant shares in the energy mix they also become more system-relevant, resulting in a need for more investment as well as regulatory changes. Due to their specific features (high capital intensity, low incremental costs, fluctuating electricity production), and in spite of the marked decline in costs, wind and solar energy are still dependent on proactive policies in support of renewable energy.

Ocean circulation generated magnetic signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manoj, C.; Kuvshinov, A.; Maus, S.

2006-01-01

Conducting ocean water, as it flows through the Earth's magnetic field, generates secondary electric and magnetic fields. An assessment of the ocean-generated magnetic fields and their detectability may be of importance for geomagnetism and oceanography. Motivated by the clear identification...... of ocean tidal signatures in the CHAMP magnetic field data we estimate the ocean magnetic signals of steady flow using a global 3-D EM numerical solution. The required velocity data are from the ECCO ocean circulation experiment and alternatively from the OCCAM model for higher resolution. We assume...... of the magnetic field, as compared to the ECCO simulation. Besides the expected signatures of the global circulation patterns, we find significant seasonal variability of ocean magnetic signals in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Compared to seasonal variation, interannual variations produce weaker signals....

Modelling of circulation and dispersion of radioactive pollutants in the Japan sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cetina, M.; Rajar, R.; Povinec, P.

2000-01-01

A large amount of radioactive waste was deposited in the Japan Sea, at a depth of about 3 000 m by the former Soviet Union. Research was carried out to determine to what extent the surface waters could be contaminated by possible leakage from the dumped containers. A three-dimensional, non-linear, baro-clinic model was used to determine the circulation and pollutant dispersion. The computations were carried out in the diagnostic mode, taking into account data on winter and summer temperature and salinity distribution. Thermohaline forcing due to strong temperatures and salinity gradients is the main forcing factor influencing the bottom circulation. Wind forcing and the inflow/outflow surface currents were also taken into account. The simulated velocity fields show relatively good agreement with observed surface currents and with some measurements of bottom currents. The simulated hydrodynamic field is in visibly closer agreement with the observed surface circulation when topographic stress is taken into account. After the release of radionuclides at the sea bottom, the first very small contamination would reach the surface layers after 3 years. The maximum concentrations of about 10 -3 Bq m -3 would be attained after 30 years. But everywhere the predicted radionuclide concentrations would be about two orders of magnitude smaller than the background values, caused by global fallout from nuclear weapons tests. Therefore, it will be impossible to determine the effect of leakage of wastes from the dumping sites over the present background levels. (authors)

Panorama 2013 - Offshore wind power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinot, Simon

2012-10-01

While onshore wind power is already a well-developed global industry, offshore wind power is still in the consolidation and globalization phase. The most mature of marine renewable energies is beginning to venture off the European coast and even to other continents, driven by public policies and the ever increasing number of players joining this promising market, which should evolve into deeper waters thanks to floating structures. (author)

Wind Climate in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, and Attribution of Leading Wind Driving Mechanisms through Turbulence-Resolving Simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Esau

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents analysis of wind climate of the Kongsfjorden-Kongsvegen valley, Svalbard. The Kongsfjorden-Kongsvegen valley is relatively densely covered with meteorological observations, which facilitate joint statistical analysis of the turbulent surface layer structure and the structure of the higher atmospheric layers. Wind direction diagrams reveal strong wind channeled in the surface layer up to 300 m to 500 m. The probability analysis links strong wind channeling and cold temperature anomalies in the surface layer. To explain these links, previous studies suggested the katabatic wind flow mechanism as the leading driver responsible for the observed wind climatology. In this paper, idealized turbulence-resolving simulations are used to distinct between different wind driving mechanisms. The simulations were performed with the real surface topography at resolution of about 60 m. These simulations resolve the obstacle-induced turbulence and the turbulence in the non-stratified boundary layer core. The simulations suggest the leading roles of the thermal land-sea breeze circulation and the mechanical wind channeling in the modulation of the valley winds. The characteristic signatures of the developed down-slope gravity-accelerated flow, that is, the katabatic wind, were found to be of lesser significance under typical meteorological conditions in the valley.

Introducing a system of wind speed distributions for modeling properties of wind speed regimes around the world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Christopher; Schindler, Dirk; Laible, Jessica; Buchholz, Alexander

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Evaluation of statistical properties of 10,016 empirical wind speed distributions. • Analysis of the shape of empirical wind speed distributions by L-moment ratios. • Introduction of a new system of wind speed distributions (Swd). • Random forests classification of the most appropriate distribution. • Comprehensive goodness of Swd fit evaluation on a global scale. - Abstract: Accurate modeling of empirical wind speed distributions is a crucial step in the estimation of average wind turbine power output. For this purpose, the Weibull distribution has often been fitted to empirical wind speed distributions. However, the Weibull distribution has been found to be insufficient to reproduce many wind speed regimes existing around the world. Results from previous studies demonstrate that numerous one-component distributions as well as mixture distributions provide a better goodness-of-fit to empirical wind speed distributions than the Weibull distribution. Moreover, there is considerable interest to apply a single system of distributions that can be utilized to reproduce the large majority of near-surface wind speed regimes existing around the world. Therefore, a system of wind speed distributions was developed that is capable of reproducing the main characteristics of existing wind speed regimes. The proposed system consists of two one-component distributions (Kappa and Wakeby) and one mixture distribution (Burr-Generalized Extreme Value). A random forests classifier was trained in order to select the most appropriate of these three distributions for each of 10,016 globally distributed empirical wind speed distributions. The shape of the empirical wind speed distributions was described by L-moment ratios. The L-moment ratios were used as predictor variables for the random forests classifier. The goodness-of-fit of the system of wind speed distributions was evaluated according to eleven goodness-of-fit metrics, which were merged into one

The onset of modern-like Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at the Eocene-Oligocene transition: Evidence, causes, and possible implications for global cooling

Science.gov (United States)

Abelson, Meir; Erez, Jonathan

2017-06-01

A compilation of benthic δ18O from the whole Atlantic and the Southern Ocean (Atlantic sector) shows two major jumps in the interbasinal gradient of δ18O (Δδ18O) during the Eocene and the Oligocene: one at ˜40 Ma and the second concomitant with the isotopic event of the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), ˜33.7 Ma ago. From previously published circulation models and proxies, we show that the first Δδ18O jump reflects the thermal isolation of Antarctica associated with the proto-Antarctic circumpolar current (ACC). The second marks the onset of interhemispheric northern-sourced circulation cell, similar to the modern Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The onset of AMOC-like circulation slightly preceded (100-300 kyr) the EOT, as we show by the high-resolution profiles of δ18O and δ13C previously published from DSDP/ODP sites in the Southern Ocean and South Atlantic. These events coincide with the onset of antiestuarine circulation between the Nordic seas and the North Atlantic which started around the EOT and may be connected to the deepening of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. We suggest that while the shallow proto-ACC supplied the energy for deep ocean convection in the Southern Hemisphere, the onset of the interhemispheric northern circulation cell was due to the significant EOT intensification of deepwater formation in the North Atlantic driven by the Nordic antiestuarine circulation. This onset of the interhemispheric northern-sourced circulation cell could have prompted the EOT global cooling.Plain Language SummaryThe Eocene-Oligocene transition is the major abrupt climatic event during the Cenozoic, which marks the major step to the icehouse world. We show that this transition is a shift to a world with Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and slightly preceded this transition. Thus, possibly was a major factor in this climatic shift.

Wind power barometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2012-01-01

Despite the economic crisis affecting most of the globe's major economies, wind energy continues to gain supporters around the world. Global wind power capacity increased by 40.5 GW between 2010 and 2011 compared to a 39 GW rise between 2009 and 2010, after deduction of decommissioned capacity. By the end of 2011 global installed wind turbine capacity should stand at around 238.5 GW, and much of the world's growth is being driven by capacity build-up in the emerging markets (China, India...). In 2011 Asia was the world's biggest market (52%) ahead of Europe (24.5%) and North-America (19.7%). Europe has still the largest wind power capacity in the world with 40.6% of total in 2011. 2011 was another tough year for Vestas company while Gamesa company has managed to maintain positive profit growth by gaining market shares abroad. Siemens keeps its lead in the offshore market. The Chinese market is now suffering form excess capacity and Chinese companies fell prey to domestic competition

On the long-term variability of Jupiter and Saturn zonal winds

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez-Lavega, A.; Garcia-Melendo, E.; Hueso, R.; Barrado-Izagirre, N.; Legarreta, J.; Rojas, J. F.

2012-12-01

We present an analysis of the long-term variability of Jupiter and Saturn zonal wind profiles at their upper cloud level as retrieved from cloud motion tracking on images obtained at ground-based observatories and with different spacecraft missions since 1979, encompassing about three Jovian and one Saturn years. We study the sensitivity and variability of the zonal wind profile in both planets to major planetary-scale disturbances and to seasonal forcing. We finally discuss the implications that these results have for current model efforts to explain the global tropospheric circulation in these planets. Acknowledgements: This work has been funded by Spanish MICIIN AYA2009-10701 with FEDER support, Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-464-07 and UPV/EHU UFI11/55. [1] Sánchez-Lavega A., et al., Icarus, 147, 405-420 (2000). [2] García-Melendo E., Sánchez LavegaA., Icarus, 152, 316-330 (2001) [3] Sánchez-Lavega A., et al., Nature, 423, 623-625 (2003). [4] García-Melendo E., et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L22204 (2010).

Ocean Circulation and Mixing Relevant to the Global System

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gordon, Arnold

1999-01-01

.... Arlindo's goal is to resolve the circulation and water mass stratification within the Indonesian Seas in order to formulate a thorough description of the source, spreading patterns, inter-ocean...

Coastal circulation and water-column properties in the National Park of American Samoa, February–July 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Storlazzi, Curt; Cheriton, Olivia; Rosenberger, Kurt; Logan, Joshua; Clark, Timothy B.

2017-06-06

There is little information on the oceanography in the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA). The transport pathways for potentially harmful constituents of land-derived runoff, as well as larvae and other planktonic organisms, are driven by nearshore circulation patterns. To evaluate the processes affecting coral reef ecosystem health, it is first necessary to understand the oceanographic processes driving nearshore circulation, residence times, exposure rates, and transport pathways. Information on how the NPSA’s natural resources may be affected by anthropogenic sources of pollution, sediment runoff, larval transport, or modifications to the marine protected areas is critical to NPSA resource managers for understanding and ultimately managing coastal and marine resources. To address this need, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. National Park Service researchers conducted a collaborative study in 2015 to determine coastal circulation patterns and water-column properties along north-central Tutuila, American Samoa, in an area focused on NPSA’s Tutuila Unit and its coral reef ecosystem. The continuous measurements of waves, currents, tides, and water-column properties from these instrument deployments over 150 days, coupled with available meteorological measurements of wind and rainfall, provide information on nearshore circulation and the variability in these hydrodynamic properties for NPSA’s Tutuila Unit. In general, circulation was strongly driven by regional winds at longer (greater than day) timescales and by tides at shorter (less than day) timescales. Flows were primarily directed along shore, with current speeds faster offshore to the north and slower closer to shore, especially in embayments. Water-column properties exhibit strong seasonality coupled to the shift from non-trade wind season to trade wind season. During the non-trade wind season that was characterized by variable winds and larger waves in the NPSA, waters were warmer, slightly more

Comparison Between The Characteristics Of Wind Power ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Data on wind speed and global solar radiation over the period 1985 – 1999 for Onne obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) stationed at Onne, Nigeria have been compiled and evaluated, to determine the wind power which is compared with the global solar radiation energies. Monthly and ...

The potential of wind farms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-01-01

Summaries of papers presented at the European wind energy conference on the potential of wind farms are presented. It is stated that in Denmark today, wind energy provides about 3% to the Danish electricity consumption and the wind power capacity is, according to Danish wind energy policy, expected to increase substantially in the years to come. A number of countries in Europe and elsewhere are making significant progress in this repect. Descriptions of performance are given in relation to some individual wind farms. The subjects covered concern surveys of national planning and policies regarding wind utilization and national and global development of wind turbine arrays. Papers also deal with utility and project planning, wind prediction and certification, wind loads and fatigue, wakes, noise and control. (AB).

TEMPERATURE STRUCTURE AND ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION OF DRY TIDALLY LOCKED ROCKY EXOPLANETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koll, Daniel D. B.; Abbot, Dorian S., E-mail: dkoll@uchicago.edu [Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)

2016-07-10

Next-generation space telescopes will observe the atmospheres of rocky planets orbiting nearby M-dwarfs. Understanding these observations will require well-developed theory in addition to numerical simulations. Here we present theoretical models for the temperature structure and atmospheric circulation of dry, tidally locked rocky exoplanets with gray radiative transfer and test them using a general circulation model (GCM). First, we develop a radiative-convective (RC) model that captures surface temperatures of slowly rotating and cool atmospheres. Second, we show that the atmospheric circulation acts as a global heat engine, which places strong constraints on large-scale wind speeds. Third, we develop an RC-subsiding model which extends our RC model to hot and thin atmospheres. We find that rocky planets develop large day–night temperature gradients at a ratio of wave-to-radiative timescales up to two orders of magnitude smaller than the value suggested by work on hot Jupiters. The small ratio is due to the heat engine inefficiency and asymmetry between updrafts and subsidence in convecting atmospheres. Fourth, we show, using GCM simulations, that rotation only has a strong effect on temperature structure if the atmosphere is hot or thin. Our models let us map out atmospheric scenarios for planets such as GJ 1132b, and show how thermal phase curves could constrain them. Measuring phase curves of short-period planets will require similar amounts of time on the James Webb Space Telescope as detecting molecules via transit spectroscopy, so future observations should pursue both techniques.

A numerical modeling study of the interaction between the tides and the circulation forced by high-latitude plasma convection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikkelsen, I.S.; Larsen, M.F.

1991-01-01

A spectral, time-varying thermospheric general circulation model has been used to study the nonlinear interaction at high latitudes between the tides propagating into the thermosphere from below and the circulation induced by magnetospheric forcing and in situ solar heating. The model is discrete in the vertical with 27 layers spaced by half a scale height. In the horizontal, the fields are expanded in a series of spherical harmonics using a triangular truncation at wave number 31, equivalent to a homogeneous global resolution with a minimum wavelength of 1,270 km. A hypothetical uniform grid point model would require a horizontal spacing of 417 km to describe the same minimum wavelength. In the high-latitude F region the tides affect the dusk vortex of the neutral flow very little, but the dawn vortex is either suppressed or amplified dependent upon the universal time and tidal phase. In the E region neutral flow, both the dusk and dawn vortices are shifted in local time by the tides, again as a function of universal time and tidal phase. At dusk a nonlinear amplification of the sunward winds occurs for certain combination of parameters, and at dawn the winds may be completely suppressed. Below 120 km altitude the magnetospheric forcing creates a single cyclonic vortex which is also sensitive to the high-latitude tidal structure

Exploring the possibilities of the advection of temperature to diagnose the influence of changes in the atmospheric circulation on global temperature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vidal, O.; Gimeno, L.; Ribera, P. [Vigo Univ., Orense (Spain). Dept. of Applied Physics; Garcia, R.; Hernandez, E.; Gallego, D. [Complutense Univ., Madrid (Spain). Dept. of Atmospheric Physics

2001-07-01

The advection of temperature (AT) at three different pressure levels was calculated for the period of 1958 to 1998 to test the hypothesis that the origin global temperature increase during the past decade was caused by changes in global circulation. The relationship between El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and global temperature has been widely studied. They have a common oscillation in the bands of 2 and 4 years. The Northern Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) may also account for regional surface warming over Europe and Asia and for cooling over the northwestern Atlantic. Important correlations were found between most of the Northern Hemisphere and Global AT series with the Arctic Oscillation and between most of the Southern Hemisphere and Global AT series with the Antarctic Oscillation. Poor correlations were found with El Nino-Southern Oscillation even for belts between 0 and 30 degrees and for the lower troposphere. 8 refs., 1 tab., 1 fig.

Climate forcings and climate sensitivities diagnosed from atmospheric global circulation models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderson, Bruce T. [Boston University, Department of Geography and Environment, Boston, MA (United States); Knight, Jeff R.; Ringer, Mark A. [Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom); Deser, Clara; Phillips, Adam S. [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Yoon, Jin-Ho [University of Maryland, Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, College Park, MD (United States); Cherchi, Annalisa [Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici, and Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Bologna (Italy)

2010-12-15

Understanding the historical and future response of the global climate system to anthropogenic emissions of radiatively active atmospheric constituents has become a timely and compelling concern. At present, however, there are uncertainties in: the total radiative forcing associated with changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere; the effective forcing applied to the climate system resulting from a (temporary) reduction via ocean-heat uptake; and the strength of the climate feedbacks that subsequently modify this forcing. Here a set of analyses derived from atmospheric general circulation model simulations are used to estimate the effective and total radiative forcing of the observed climate system due to anthropogenic emissions over the last 50 years of the twentieth century. They are also used to estimate the sensitivity of the observed climate system to these emissions, as well as the expected change in global surface temperatures once the climate system returns to radiative equilibrium. Results indicate that estimates of the effective radiative forcing and total radiative forcing associated with historical anthropogenic emissions differ across models. In addition estimates of the historical sensitivity of the climate to these emissions differ across models. However, results suggest that the variations in climate sensitivity and total climate forcing are not independent, and that the two vary inversely with respect to one another. As such, expected equilibrium temperature changes, which are given by the product of the total radiative forcing and the climate sensitivity, are relatively constant between models, particularly in comparison to results in which the total radiative forcing is assumed constant. Implications of these results for projected future climate forcings and subsequent responses are also discussed. (orig.)

Numerical simulations of local circulations and pollution transport over Reunion Island

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Lesouëf

2011-01-01

Full Text Available A series of high-resolution (1 km numerical simulations with a limited-area numerical model has been performed over Reunion Island. In the dynamical context of a regular maritime flow perturbed by a major topographic obstacle such as Reunion Island, the objectives are to identify the main atmospheric circulations at local-scale over the island and to improve the understanding of local-scale transport and dispersion of pollutants emitted from local sources. To investigate the effects of topography and land surface heating on low-level flows over the island, simulations representative of austral winter were performed in idealized conditions keeping the radiative forcing plus a background east-south-easterly synoptic flux of varying strengths, typical of the prevailing trade-wind conditions. The numerical experiments show mainly that flow splitting of the trade-wind occurs around the island, with enhanced winds blowing along the coast lines parallel to the synoptic flux, due to the lateral constriction of the flow by the island and resulting Venturi effect. Blocking occurs on the island side facing the trade-wind. The north-western area on the leeside is screened from the trade-wind by high mountains, and this enables the development of diurnal thermally-induced circulations, combining downslope and land-breeze at night, and upslope and sea breeze at daytime. Flow splitting is modulated by radiative convergence toward the island at daytime, and divergence from the island at night. Stronger winds than the large-scale trade-wind occur along the coast at daytime (Venturi effect, whereas at night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. At night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. Consequently, a number of processes of pollution transport and dispersion have been identified. Vortices in the wake of the island were found to cause

Numerical simulations of local circulations and pollution transport over Reunion Island

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lesouef, D.; Delmas, R. [La Reunion Univ., CNRS/INSU UMR8105 (France). Lab. de l' Atmosphere et des Cyclones; Gheusi, F.; Escobar, J. [Toulouse III Univ., CNRS/INSU UMR5560 (France). Lab. d' Aerologie

2011-07-01

A series of high-resolution (1 km) numerical simulations with a limited-area numerical model has been performed over Reunion Island. In the dynamical context of a regular maritime flow perturbed by a major topographic obstacle such as Reunion Island, the objectives are to identify the main atmospheric circulations at local-scale over the island and to improve the understanding of local-scale transport and dispersion of pollutants emitted from local sources. To investigate the effects of topography and land surface heating on low-level flows over the island, simulations representative of austral winter were performed in idealized conditions keeping the radiative forcing plus a background east-south-easterly synoptic flux of varying strengths, typical of the prevailing trade-wind conditions. The numerical experiments show mainly that flow splitting of the trade-wind occurs around the island, with enhanced winds blowing along the coast lines parallel to the synoptic flux, due to the lateral constriction of the flow by the island and resulting Venturi effect. Blocking occurs on the island side facing the trade-wind. The north-western area on the leeside is screened from the trade-wind by high mountains, and this enables the development of diurnal thermally-induced circulations, combining downslope and land-breeze at night, and upslope and sea breeze at daytime. Flow splitting is modulated by radiative convergence toward the island at daytime, and divergence from the island at night. Stronger winds than the large-scale trade-wind occur along the coast at daytime (Venturi effect), whereas at night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. At night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. Consequently, a number of processes of pollution transport and dispersion have been identified. Vortices in the wake of the island were found to cause counterflow circulation

Building Chinese wind data for Wind Erosion Prediction System using surrogate US data

Science.gov (United States)

Wind erosion is a global problem, especially in arid and semiarid regions of the world, which leads to land degradation and atmosphere pollution. The process-based Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS), developed by the USDA, is capable of simulating the windblown soil loss with changing weather and...

Global changes in total and wind electricity (1990–2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María del P. Pablo-Romero

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Wind energy is one of the renewable energies which have less adverse environmental impact and is becoming economically affordable long before several other renewable energies. Over recent years, substantial additions have been noted in wind energy capacity, although many differences can be observed between countries. Using the latest available data, this paper provides a concise analysis of wind energy and electricity consumption trends for the period 1990–2014 in a dual perspective, by principal world regions and by per capita gross national income levels in 2014. Electricity consumption has been divided into three types of energy: non-renewable, renewable excluding wind and wind energy. Annual rates of change, energy intensity, energy in per capita terms and some ratios have been analyzed. Notable regional differences and trends are observed in the studied variables. The first 15 European Union countries, other developed countries (ODC and East Asian (EAS and South Asian countries (SAS are the regions which currently have the highest wind capacity.

Evaluation of Circulating Current Suppression Methods for Parallel Interleaved Inverters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gohil, Ghanshyamsinh Vijaysinh; Bede, Lorand; Teodorescu, Remus

2016-01-01

Two-level Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) are often connected in parallel to achieve desired current rating in multi-megawatt Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS). A multi-level converter can be realized by interleaving the carrier signals of the parallel VSCs. As a result, the harmonic perfor......-mance of the WECS can be significantly improved. However, the interleaving of the carrier signals may lead to the flow of circulating current between parallel VSCs and it is highly desirable to avoid/suppress this unwanted circulating current. A comparative evaluation of the different methods to avoid....../suppress the circulating current between the parallel interleaved VSCs is presented in this paper. The losses and the volume of the inductive components and the semiconductor losses are evaluated for the WECS with different circulating current suppression methods. Multi-objective optimizations of the inductive components...

EurObserv'ER's 2010 wind power barometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2011-01-01

For the first time in 20 years, the growth of the global wind power market faltered, stumbling by 5.8% to 35.7 GW in 2010. On one hand, the North American market has taken a knock while the European market has slowed down, on the other hand, Asian market growth has crept up steadily and now has a grip on more than half the global market. At the end of 2010 we had 194.5 GW of wind power installed across the world among which 84.3 GW installed in the European Union. Germany and Spain lead the European Union list for installed wind power with respectively 27.21 GW and 20.68 GW but when this capacity is divided by the population, Denmark ranks first with 686, 6 kW/1000 inhabitants followed by Spain with 449.6 KW/1000 inhabitants. 2010 was a record year for offshore wind power. The offshore share of the total wind power market rose to 12.2% in 2010. First available estimates indicate that the European Union's wind energy electricity output for 2010 should reach 147 TWh, which is an 11.2% rise on 2009. In 2010, the global leading manufacturer is probably Chinese. Back to 2009, the top 4 wind turbines suppliers were Vestas (Denmark), GE Wind (Usa), Sinovel (China) and Enercon (Germany). (A.C.)

Observer Backstepping Control for Variable Speed Wind Turbine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Galeazzi, Roberto; Gryning, Mikkel Peter Sidoroff; Blanke, Mogens

2013-01-01

. The nonlinear controller aims at regulating the generator torque such that an optimal tip-speed ratio can be obtained. Simply relying on the measured rotor angular velocity the proposed observer backstepping controller guarantees global asymptotic tracking of the desired trajectory while maintaining a globally......This paper presents an observer backstepping controller as feasible solution to variable speed control of wind turbines to maximize wind power capture when operating between cut-in and rated wind speeds. The wind turbine is modeled as a two-mass drive-train system controlled by the generator torque...

What Can Radiocarbon Depth Profiles Tell Us About The LGM Circulation?

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, A.; Stewart, A.; Adkins, J. F.; Ferrari, R. M.; Thompson, A. F.; Jansen, M. F.

2014-12-01

Published reconstructions of radiocarbon in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean indicate that there is a mid-depth maximum in radiocarbon age during the last glacial maximum (LGM). This is in contrast to the modern ocean where intense mixing between water masses along shared density surfaces (isopycnals) results in a relatively homogenous radiocarbon profile. A recent study (Ferrari et al. 2014) suggested that the extended Antarctic sea ice cover during the LGM necessitated a shallower boundary between the upper and lower branches of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC). This shoaled boundary lay above major topographic features and their associated strong diapycnal mixing, which isolated dense southern-sourced water in the lower branch of the overturning circulation. This isolation would have allowed radiocarbon to decay, and thus provides a possible explanation for the mid-depth radiocarbon age bulge. We test this hypothesis using an idealized, 2D, residual-mean dynamical model of the global overturning circulation. Concentration distributions of a decaying tracer that is advected by the simulated overturning are compared to published radiocarbon data. We test the sensitivity of the mid-depth radiocarbon age to changes in sea ice extent, wind strength, and isopycnal and diapycnal diffusion. The mid-depth radiocarbon age bulge is most likely caused by the different circulation geometry, associated with increased sea ice extent. In particular, with an LGM-like sea ice extent the upper and lower branches of the MOC no longer share isopycnals, so radiocarbon-rich northern-sourced water is no longer mixed rapidly into the southern-sourced water. However, this process alone cannot explain the magnitude of the glacial radiocarbon anomalies; additional isolation (e.g. from reduced air-sea gas exchange associated with the increased sea ice) is required. Ferrari, R., M. F. Jansen, J. F. Adkins, A. Burke, A. L. Stewart, and A. F. Thompson (2014), Antarctic sea

From global circulation to flood loss: Coupling models across the scales

Science.gov (United States)

Felder, Guido; Gomez-Navarro, Juan Jose; Bozhinova, Denica; Zischg, Andreas; Raible, Christoph C.; Ole, Roessler; Martius, Olivia; Weingartner, Rolf

2017-04-01

The prediction and the prevention of flood losses requires an extensive understanding of underlying meteorological, hydrological, hydraulic and damage processes. Coupled models help to improve the understanding of such underlying processes and therefore contribute the understanding of flood risk. Using such a modelling approach to determine potentially flood-affected areas and damages requires a complex coupling between several models operating at different spatial and temporal scales. Although the isolated parts of the single modelling components are well established and commonly used in the literature, a full coupling including a mesoscale meteorological model driven by a global circulation one, a hydrologic model, a hydrodynamic model and a flood impact and loss model has not been reported so far. In the present study, we tackle the application of such a coupled model chain in terms of computational resources, scale effects, and model performance. From a technical point of view, results show the general applicability of such a coupled model, as well as good model performance. From a practical point of view, such an approach enables the prediction of flood-induced damages, although some future challenges have been identified.

Long-term global response analysis of a vertical axis wind turbine supported on a semi-submersible floating platform: Comparison between operating and non-operating wind turbine load cases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Collu, Maurizio; Manuel, Lance; Borg, Michael

2015-01-01

This study continues [1] the examination of the long-term global response of a floating vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) situated off the Portuguese coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The VAWT, which consists of a 5-MW 3-bladed H-type rotor developed as part of the EU-FP7 H2OCEAN project, is assumed...... is adopted, as well as also taking into account the drag generated by the wind turbine tower. Short-term turbine load and platform motion statistics are established for individual sea states that are analysed. The long-term reliability yields estimates of 50-year loads and platform motions that takes...... to be mounted on the OC4 semi-submersible floating platform. Adding a non-operational load case (wind speed 35m/s), the sea states identified are used to carry out coupled dynamics simulations using the FloVAWT design tool, for which an improved wave elevation and relative force/moment time signals approach...

Surface wind energy trends near Taiwan in winter since 1871

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The tropical surface wind speed in boreal winter reaches a maximum near Taiwan. This stable wind resource may be used for future clean energy development. How this surface wind energy source has changed in past 141 years is investigated using the 20th century reanalysis dataset and CMIP5 models. Our observational analysis shows that the surface wind speed experienced a weakening trend in the past 141 years (1871 - 2010. The average decreasing rate is around -1.4 m s-1 per century. The decrease is primarily attributed to the relative sea surface temperature (SST cooling in the subtropical North Pacific, which forces a large-scale low-level anti-cyclonic circulation anomaly in situ and is thus responsible for the southerly trend near Taiwan. The relative SST trend pattern is attributed mainly to the greenhouse gas effect associated with anthropogenic activities. The southerly trend near Taiwan is more pronounced in the boreal winter than in summer. Such seasonal difference is attributed to the reversed seasonal mean wind, which promotes more efficient positive feedback in the boreal winter. The CMIP5 historical run analysis reveals that climate models capture less SST warming and large-scale anti-cyclonic circulation in the subtropical North Pacific, but the simulated weakening trend of the surface wind speed near Taiwan is too small.

The global thermospheric mapping study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliver, W.L.; Salah, J.E.

1988-01-01

The Global Thermospheric Mapping Study (GTMS) is a multitechnique experimental pilot study of the Earth's thermosphere designed to map simultaneously its spatial and temporal morphology. This paper provides the background for the study and presents the analysis techniques employed at Millstone Hill and results to date on thermospheric structure and dynamics. The first latitudinal-temporal maps of exospheric temperature obtained from the incoherent scatter radar chain at 70W meridian are presented for the two solstice periods, revealing substantial seasonal differences between them. The observed structure shows a relatively depressed temperature at high latitude in summer in contrast to the mass spectrometer/incoherent scatter 1983 [MSIS-83] empirical model, which shows a maximum temperature at polar latitudes. The MSIS-83 model predictions are in good agreement with the observed latitudinal-temporal structure in winter. Comparison with the numerical predictions made for the June 26-28, 1984 period with the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermospheric general circulation model shows reasonable agreement in the latitudinal gradient but the observations indicate a cooler thermosphere by several hundred degrees. Neutral winds at mid-latitudes are presented showing the expected strong southward winds at night, which are found to be consistent with the temperature gradients observed in the latitudinal maps. There is good agreement in the June winds between the available numerical model calculations and the observations. Work performed elsewhere on the GTMS data base is summarized for completeness

Summertime land-sea thermal contrast and atmospheric circulation over East Asia in a warming climate—Part I: Past changes and future projections

Science.gov (United States)

Kamae, Youichi; Watanabe, Masahiro; Kimoto, Masahide; Shiogama, Hideo

2014-11-01

Land-sea surface air temperature (SAT) contrast, an index of tropospheric thermodynamic structure and dynamical circulation, has shown a significant increase in recent decades over East Asia during the boreal summer. In Part I of this two-part paper, observational data and the results of transient warming experiments conducted using coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (GCMs) are analyzed to examine changes in land-sea thermal contrast and the associated atmospheric circulation over East Asia from the past to the future. The interannual variability of the land-sea SAT contrast over the Far East for 1950-2012 was found to be tightly coupled with a characteristic tripolar pattern of tropospheric circulation over East Asia, which manifests as anticyclonic anomalies over the Okhotsk Sea and around the Philippines, and a cyclonic anomaly over Japan during a positive phase, and vice versa. In response to CO2 increase, the cold northeasterly winds off the east coast of northern Japan and the East Asian rainband were strengthened with the circulation pattern well projected on the observed interannual variability. These results are commonly found in GCMs regardless of future forcing scenarios, indicating the robustness of the East Asian climate response to global warming. The physical mechanisms responsible for the increase of the land-sea contrast are examined in Part II.

On unravelling mechanism of interplay between cloud and large scale circulation: a grey area in climate science

Science.gov (United States)

De, S.; Agarwal, N. K.; Hazra, Anupam; Chaudhari, Hemantkumar S.; Sahai, A. K.

2018-04-01

The interaction between cloud and large scale circulation is much less explored area in climate science. Unfolding the mechanism of coupling between these two parameters is imperative for improved simulation of Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and to reduce imprecision in climate sensitivity of global climate model. This work has made an effort to explore this mechanism with CFSv2 climate model experiments whose cloud has been modified by changing the critical relative humidity (CRH) profile of model during ISM. Study reveals that the variable CRH in CFSv2 has improved the nonlinear interactions between high and low frequency oscillations in wind field (revealed as internal dynamics of monsoon) and modulates realistically the spatial distribution of interactions over Indian landmass during the contrasting monsoon season compared to the existing CRH profile of CFSv2. The lower tropospheric wind error energy in the variable CRH simulation of CFSv2 appears to be minimum due to the reduced nonlinear convergence of error to the planetary scale range from long and synoptic scales (another facet of internal dynamics) compared to as observed from other CRH experiments in normal and deficient monsoons. Hence, the interplay between cloud and large scale circulation through CRH may be manifested as a change in internal dynamics of ISM revealed from scale interactive quasi-linear and nonlinear kinetic energy exchanges in frequency as well as in wavenumber domain during the monsoon period that eventually modify the internal variance of CFSv2 model. Conversely, the reduced wind bias and proper modulation of spatial distribution of scale interaction between the synoptic and low frequency oscillations improve the eastward and northward extent of water vapour flux over Indian landmass that in turn give feedback to the realistic simulation of cloud condensates attributing improved ISM rainfall in CFSv2.

THOR: A NEW AND FLEXIBLE GLOBAL CIRCULATION MODEL TO EXPLORE PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mendonça, João M.; Grimm, Simon L.; Grosheintz, Luc; Heng, Kevin, E-mail: joao.mendonca@csh.unibe.ch, E-mail: kevin.heng@csh.unibe.ch [University of Bern, Center for Space and Habitability, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012, Bern (Switzerland)

2016-10-01

We have designed and developed, from scratch, a global circulation model (GCM) named THOR that solves the three-dimensional nonhydrostatic Euler equations. Our general approach lifts the commonly used assumptions of a shallow atmosphere and hydrostatic equilibrium. We solve the “pole problem” (where converging meridians on a sphere lead to increasingly smaller time steps near the poles) by implementing an icosahedral grid. Irregularities in the grid, which lead to grid imprinting, are smoothed using the “spring dynamics” technique. We validate our implementation of spring dynamics by examining calculations of the divergence and gradient of test functions. To prevent the computational time step from being bottlenecked by having to resolve sound waves, we implement a split-explicit method together with a horizontally explicit and vertically implicit integration. We validate our GCM by reproducing the Earth and hot-Jupiter-like benchmark tests. THOR was designed to run on graphics processing units (GPUs), which allows for physics modules (radiative transfer, clouds, chemistry) to be added in the future, and is part of the open-source Exoclimes Simulation Platform (www.exoclime.org).

THOR: A NEW AND FLEXIBLE GLOBAL CIRCULATION MODEL TO EXPLORE PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendonça, João M.; Grimm, Simon L.; Grosheintz, Luc; Heng, Kevin

2016-01-01

We have designed and developed, from scratch, a global circulation model (GCM) named THOR that solves the three-dimensional nonhydrostatic Euler equations. Our general approach lifts the commonly used assumptions of a shallow atmosphere and hydrostatic equilibrium. We solve the “pole problem” (where converging meridians on a sphere lead to increasingly smaller time steps near the poles) by implementing an icosahedral grid. Irregularities in the grid, which lead to grid imprinting, are smoothed using the “spring dynamics” technique. We validate our implementation of spring dynamics by examining calculations of the divergence and gradient of test functions. To prevent the computational time step from being bottlenecked by having to resolve sound waves, we implement a split-explicit method together with a horizontally explicit and vertically implicit integration. We validate our GCM by reproducing the Earth and hot-Jupiter-like benchmark tests. THOR was designed to run on graphics processing units (GPUs), which allows for physics modules (radiative transfer, clouds, chemistry) to be added in the future, and is part of the open-source Exoclimes Simulation Platform (www.exoclime.org).

Reactive power influence on the thermal cycling of multi-MW wind power inverter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Ke; Liserre, Marco; Blaabjerg, Frede

2012-01-01

converter system are first presented at different wind speeds. Furthermore, the interaction between paralleled converter systems in a wind park is also considered and analyzed. By controlling the reactive power circulated among paralleled converters, a new concept is then proposed to stabilize the thermal...

The impact of scatterometer wind data on global weather forecasting

Science.gov (United States)

Atlas, D.; Baker, W. E.; Kalnay, E.; Halem, M.; Woiceshyn, P. M.; Peteherych, S.

1984-01-01

The impact of SEASAT-A scatterometer (SASS) winds on coarse resolution atmospheric model forecasts was assessed. The scatterometer provides high resolution winds, but each wind can have up to four possible directions. One wind direction is correct; the remainder are ambiguous or "aliases'. In general, the effect of objectively dealiased-SASS data was found to be negligible in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the impact was larger and primarily beneficial when vertical temperature profile radiometer (VTPR) data was excluded. However, the inclusion of VTPR data eliminates the positive impact, indicating some redundancy between the two data sets.

Southern hemisphere low level wind circulation statistics from the Seasat scatterometer

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, Gad

1994-01-01

Analyses of remotely sensed low-level wind vector data over the Southern Ocean are performed. Five-day averages and monthly means are created and the month-to-month variability during the winter (July-September) of 1978 is investigated. The remotely sensed winds are compared to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) and the National Meteorological Center (NMC) surface analyses. In southern latitudes the remotely sensed winds are stronger than what the weather services' analyses suggest, indicating under-estimation by ABM and NMC in these regions. The evolution of the low-level jet and the major stormtracks during the season are studied and different flow regimes are identified. The large-scale variability of the meridional flow is studied with the aid of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The dominance of quasi-stationary wave numbers 3,4, and 5 in the winter flows is evident in both the EOF analysis and the mean flow. The signature of an exceptionally strong blocking situation is evident in July and the special conditions leading to it are discussed. A very large intraseasonal variability with different flow regimes at different months is documented.

Evolution of Indian Ocean biases in the summer monsoon season hindcasts from the Met Office Global Seasonal Forecasting System GloSea5

Science.gov (United States)

Chevuturi, A.; Turner, A. G.; Woolnough, S. J.

2016-12-01

In this study we investigate the development of biases in the Indian Ocean region in summer hindcasts of the UK Met Office coupled initialised global seasonal forecasting system, GloSea5-GC2. Previous work has demonstrated the rapid evolution of strong monsoon circulation biases over India from seasonal forecasts initialised in early May, together with coupled strong easterly wind biases on the equator. We analyse a set of three springtime start dates for the 20-year hindcast period (1992-2011) and fifteen total ensemble members for each year. We use comparisons with a variety of observations to test the rate of evolving mean-state biases in the Arabian Sea, over India, and over the equatorial Indian Ocean. Biases are all shown to develop rapidly, particularly for the circulation bias over India that is connected to convection. These circulation biases later reach the surface and lead to responses in Arabian Sea SST in accordance with coastal and Ekman upwelling processes. We also assess the evolution of radiation and turbulent heat fluxes at the surface. Meanwhile at the equator, easterly biases in surface winds are shown to develop rapidly, consistent with an SST pattern that is consistent with positive-Indian Ocean dipole mean state conditions (warm western equatorial Indian Ocean, cold east). This bias develops consistent with coupled ocean-atmosphere exchanges and Bjerknes feedback. We hypothesize that lower tropospheric easterly wind biases developing in the equatorial region originate from the surface, and also that signals of the cold bias in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean propagate to the Bay of Bengal via coastal Kelvin waves. Earlier work has shown the utility of wind-stress corrections in the Indian Ocean for correcting the easterly winds bias there and ultimately improving the evolution of the Indian Ocean Dipole. We identify and test this wind-stress correction technique in case study years from the hindcast period to see their impact on seasonal

Influence of orographically steered winds on Mutsu Bay surface currents

Science.gov (United States)

Yamaguchi, Satoshi; Kawamura, Hiroshi

2005-09-01

Effects of spatially dependent sea surface wind field on currents in Mutsu Bay, which is located at the northern end of Japanese Honshu Island, are investigated using winds derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and a numerical model. A characteristic wind pattern over the bay was evidenced from analysis of 118 SAR images and coincided with in situ observations. Wind is topographically steered with easterly winds entering the bay through the terrestrial gap and stronger wind blowing over the central water toward its mouth. Nearshore winds are weaker due to terrestrial blockages. Using the Princeton Ocean Model, we investigated currents forced by the observed spatially dependent wind field. The predicted current pattern agrees well with available observations. For a uniform wind field of equal magnitude and average direction, the circulation pattern departs from observations demonstrating that vorticity input due to spatially dependent wind stress is essential in generation of the wind-driven current in Mutsu Bay.

Model under-representation of decadal Pacific trade wind trends and its link to tropical Atlantic bias

Science.gov (United States)

Kajtar, Jules B.; Santoso, Agus; McGregor, Shayne; England, Matthew H.; Baillie, Zak

2018-02-01

The strengthening of the Pacific trade winds in recent decades has been unmatched in the observational record stretching back to the early twentieth century. This wind strengthening has been connected with numerous climate-related phenomena, including accelerated sea-level rise in the western Pacific, alterations to Indo-Pacific ocean currents, increased ocean heat uptake, and a slow-down in the rate of global-mean surface warming. Here we show that models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 underestimate the observed range of decadal trends in the Pacific trade winds, despite capturing the range in decadal sea surface temperature (SST) variability. Analysis of observational data suggests that tropical Atlantic SST contributes considerably to the Pacific trade wind trends, whereas the Atlantic feedback in coupled models is muted. Atmosphere-only simulations forced by observed SST are capable of recovering the time-variation and the magnitude of the trade wind trends. Hence, we explore whether it is the biases in the mean or in the anomalous SST patterns that are responsible for the under-representation in fully coupled models. Over interannual time-scales, we find that model biases in the patterns of Atlantic SST anomalies are the strongest source of error in the precipitation and atmospheric circulation response. In contrast, on decadal time-scales, the magnitude of the model biases in Atlantic mean SST are directly linked with the trade wind variability response.

Representation of the tropical stratospheric zonal wind in global atmospheric reanalyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Kawatani

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on a project to compare the representation of the monthly-mean zonal wind in the equatorial stratosphere among major global atmospheric reanalysis data sets. The degree of disagreement among the reanalyses is characterized by the standard deviation (SD of the monthly-mean zonal wind and this depends on latitude, longitude, height, and the phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO. At each height the SD displays a prominent equatorial maximum, indicating the particularly challenging nature of the reanalysis problem in the low-latitude stratosphere. At 50–70 hPa the geographical distributions of SD are closely related to the density of radiosonde observations. The largest SD values are over the central Pacific, where few in situ observations are available. At 10–20 hPa the spread among the reanalyses and differences with in situ observations both depend significantly on the QBO phase. Notably the easterly-to-westerly phase transitions in all the reanalyses except MERRA are delayed relative to those directly observed in Singapore. In addition, the timing of the easterly-to-westerly phase transitions displays considerable variability among the different reanalyses and this spread is much larger than for the timing of the westerly-to-easterly phase changes. The eddy component in the monthly-mean zonal wind near the Equator is dominated by zonal wavenumber 1 and 2 quasi-stationary planetary waves propagating from midlatitudes in the westerly phase of the QBO. There generally is considerable disagreement among the reanalyses in the details of the quasi-stationary waves near the Equator. At each level, there is a tendency for the agreement to be best near the longitude of Singapore, suggesting that the Singapore observations act as a strong constraint on all the reanalyses. Our measures of the quality of the reanalysis clearly show systematic improvement over the period considered (1979–2012. The SD among the reanalysis

Magnetized Disk Winds in NGC 3783

Science.gov (United States)

Fukumura, Keigo; Kazanas, Demosthenes; Shrader, Chris; Behar, Ehud; Tombesi, Francesco; Contopoulos, Ioannis

2018-01-01

We analyze a 900 ks stacked Chandra/HETG spectrum of NGC 3783 in the context of magnetically driven accretion-disk wind models in an effort to provide tight constraints on the global conditions of the underlying absorbers. Motivated by the earlier measurements of its absorption measure distribution (AMD) indicating X-ray-absorbing ionic columns that decrease slowly with decreasing ionization parameter, we employ 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) disk wind models to describe the global outflow. We compute its photoionization structure along with the wind kinematic properties, allowing us to further calculate in a self-consistent fashion the shapes of the major X-ray absorption lines. With the wind radial density profile determined by the AMD, the profiles of the ensemble of the observed absorption features are determined by the two global parameters of the MHD wind; i.e., disk inclination {θ }{obs} and wind density normalization n o . Considering the most significant absorption features in the ∼1.8–20 Å range, we show that the MHD wind is best described by n{(r)∼ 6.9× {10}11(r/{r}o)}-1.15 cm‑3 and {θ }{obs}=44^\\circ . We argue that winds launched by X-ray heating or radiation pressure, or even MHD winds but with steeper radial density profiles, are strongly disfavored by data. Considering the properties of Fe K-band absorption features (i.e., Fe XXV and Fe XXVI), while typically prominent in the active galactic nucleus X-ray spectra, they appear to be weak in NGC 3783. For the specific parameters of our model obtained by fitting the AMD and the rest of the absorption features, these features are found to be weak, in agreement with observations.

Wind Power: How Much, How Soon, and At What Cost?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiser, Ryan H; Hand, Maureen

2010-01-01

The global wind power market has been growing at a phenomenal pace, driven by favorable policies towards renewable energy and the improving economics of wind projects. On a going forward basis, utility-scale wind power offers the potential for significant reductions in the carbon footprint of the electricity sector. Specifically, the global wind resource is vast and, though accessing this potential is not costless or lacking in barriers, wind power can be developed at scale in the near to medium term at what promises to be an acceptable cost.

Low-frequency variability of the atmospheric circulation: a comparison of statistical properties in both hemispheres and extreme seasons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buzzi, A.; Tosi, E.

1988-01-01

A statistical investigation is presented of the main variables characterizing the tropospheric general circulation in both hemispheres and extreme season, Winter and Summer. This gives up the opportunity of comparing four distinct realizations of the planetary circulation, as function of different orographic and thermal forcing conditions. Our approach is made possible by the availability of 6 years of global daily analyses prepared by ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast). The variables taken into account are the zonal geostrophic wind, the zonal thermal wind and various large-scala wave components, averaged over the tropospheric depth between 1000 and 200 hPa. The mean properties of the analysed quantities in each hemisphere and season are compared and their principal characteristics are discussed. The probability density estimates for the same variables, filtered in order to eliminate the seasonal cycle and the high frequency 'noise', are then presented. The distributions are examined, in particular, with respect of their unimodal or multimodal nature and with reference to the recent discussion in the literature on the bimodality which has been found for some indicators of planetary wave activity in the Nothern Hemisphere Winter. Our results indicate the presence of nonunimodally distributed wave and zonal flow components in both hemispheres and extreme season. The most frequent occurrence of nonunimodal behaviour is found for those wave components which exhibit an almost vanishing zonal phase speed and a larger 'response' to orographic forcing

Renewable energy from wind and sun. Status quo and development perspectives at the global level; Erneuerbare Energie aus Sonne und Wind. Status quo und Entwicklungsperspektiven weltweit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Graichen, Patrick; Grotewold, Lars [Agora Energiewende, Berlin (Germany); Kordowski, Klaus; Wesemann, Philipp [Stiftung Mercator, Essen (Germany)

2015-01-15

The global market for renewable energy technologies has experienced strong growth since the year 2000. In 2013 newly installed electricity production plants based on renewable energy for the first time outnumbered the aggregate of newly installed plants based on coal, gas or nuclear energy. In more and more parts of the world, wind and solar energy plants are becoming the most cost-effective means of electricity production. As renewable energy resources begin to claim significant shares in the energy mix they also become more system-relevant, resulting in a need for more investment as well as regulatory changes. Due to their specific features (high capital intensity, low incremental costs, fluctuating electricity production), and in spite of the marked decline in costs, wind and solar energy are still dependent on proactive policies in support of renewable energy.

Lattice Wind Description and Characterization of Mexico City Local Wind Events in the 2001–2006 Period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Salcido

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Urban transformation and expansion in Mexico City continuously affect its urban morphology, and therefore the modes of wind circulation inside it and their occurrence probabilities. Knowledge on these topics is an important issue for urban planning and for other urban studies, such as air quality assessment. In this paper, using a lattice wind model at a meso-β scale, we develop a simple description and characterization of Mexico City local wind events that occurred during the period 2001–2006, including an estimation of the occurrence probabilities. This region was modeled as a 2D lattice domain of identical cells, and wind conditions in each cell were described by four wind attributes: the horizontal velocity components, divergence, and vorticity. Models of one and four cells were applied to wind data furnished by the meteorological network of the city. Results include the following: Early morning: low intensity winds (75% from N, NW, W and SW (75%, convergent (93%, with a slight predominance of cyclonic vorticity (54%. Morning and early afternoon: winds from N, NE and E (72% with speeds from 0.5 to 3.5 m/s, slight prevailing of convergent winds (51%, and slight predominance of cyclonic vorticity (57%. Late afternoon and night: winds blowing from N, NW, and S (63% with speeds from 1.5 to 3.5 m/s (66%, convergent (90%, and cyclonic (72%.

Wind-driven circulation in the subarctic north Pacific using altimeter ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

of the wind stress curl are also related to the variation of the subarctic gyre. Though the correlation .... mum in spring, accounting for 41% of all the vari- ance. This estimate ..... plays an important role as a western boundary and it is also located ...

Wind increases leaf water use efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Schymanski, Stanislaus J; Or, Dani

2016-07-01

A widespread perception is that, with increasing wind speed, transpiration from plant leaves increases. However, evidence suggests that increasing wind speed enhances carbon dioxide (CO2 ) uptake while reducing transpiration because of more efficient convective cooling (under high solar radiation loads). We provide theoretical and experimental evidence that leaf water use efficiency (WUE, carbon uptake per water transpired) commonly increases with increasing wind speed, thus improving plants' ability to conserve water during photosynthesis. Our leaf-scale analysis suggests that the observed global decrease in near-surface wind speeds could have reduced WUE at a magnitude similar to the increase in WUE attributed to global rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, there is indication that the effect of long-term trends in wind speed on leaf gas exchange may be compensated for by the concurrent reduction in mean leaf sizes. These unintuitive feedbacks between wind, leaf size and water use efficiency call for re-evaluation of the role of wind in plant water relations and potential re-interpretation of temporal and geographic trends in leaf sizes. © 2015 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A review of wind turbine-oriented active flow control strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Aubrun, Sandrine; Leroy, Annie; Devinant, Philippe

2017-10-01

To reduce the levelized cost of energy, the energy production, robustness and lifespan of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) have to be improved to ensure optimal energy production and operational availability during periods longer than 15-20 years. HAWTs are subject to unsteady wind loads that generate combinations of unsteady mechanical loads with characteristic time scales from seconds to minutes. This can be reduced by controlling the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine rotors in real time to compensate the overloads. Mitigating load fluctuations and optimizing the aerodynamic performance at higher time scales need the development of fast-response active flow control (AFC) strategies located as close as possible to the torque generation, i.e., directly on the blades. The most conventional actuators currently used in HAWTs are mechanical flaps/tabs (similar to aeronautical accessories), but some more innovative concepts based on fluidic and plasma actuators are very promising since they are devoid of mechanical parts, have a fast response and can be driven in unsteady modes to influence natural instabilities of the flow. In this context, the present paper aims at giving a state-of-the-art review of current research in wind turbine-oriented flow control strategies applied at the blade scale. It provides an overview of research conducted in the last decade dealing with the actuators and devices devoted to developing AFC on rotor blades, focusing on the flow phenomena that they cause and that can lead to aerodynamic load increase or decrease. After providing some general background on wind turbine blade aerodynamics and on the atmospheric flows in which HAWTs operate, the review focuses on flow separation control and circulation control mainly through experimental investigations. It is followed by a discussion about the overall limitations of current studies in the wind energy context, with a focus on a few studies that attempt to provide a global

Precipitation, temperature and wind in Norway: dynamical downscaling of ERA40

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barstad, I.; Sorteberg, A.; Flatoey, F. [Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen (Norway); Deque, M. [Meteo France, EAC/GMGEC/CNRM, Toulouse (France)

2009-11-15

A novel downscaling approach of the ERA40 (ECMWF 40-years reanalysis) data set has been taken and results for comparison with observations in Norway are shown. The method applies a nudging technique in a stretched global model, focused in the Norwegian Sea (67 N, 5 W). The effective resolution is three times the one of the ERA40, equivalent to about 30 km grid spacing in the area of focus. Longer waves (circulation is similar in the two data sets. The shorter waves are free to evolve, and produce high intensities of winds and precipitation. The comparison to observations incorporate numerous station data points of (1) precipitation (357), (2) temperature (98) and (3) wind (10), and for the period 1961-1990, the downscaled data set shows large improvements over ERA40. The daily precipitation shows considerable reduction in bias (from 50 to 11%), and twofold reduction at the 99.9 percentile (from -59 to -29%). The daily temperature showed a bias reduction of about a degree in most areas, and relative large RMSE reduction (from 7.5 to 5.0 C except winter). The wind comparison showed a slight improvement in bias, and significant improvements in RMSE. (orig.)

Quantifying offshore wind resources from satellite wind maps: Study area the North Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Barthelmie, Rebecca Jane; Christiansen, Merete B.

2006-01-01

Offshore wind resources are quantified from satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and satellite scatterometer observations at local and regional scale respectively at the Horns Rev site in Denmark. The method for wind resource estimation from satellite observations interfaces with the wind atlas...... of the Horns Rev wind farm is quantified from satellite SAR images and compared with state-of-the-art wake model results with good agreement. It is a unique method using satellite observations to quantify the spatial extent of the wake behind large offshore wind farms. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd....... analysis and application program (WAsP). An estimate of the wind resource at the new project site at Horns Rev is given based on satellite SAR observations. The comparison of offshore satellite scatterometer winds, global model data and in situ data shows good agreement. Furthermore, the wake effect...

Large-scale circulation departures related to wet episodes in northeast Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Sikdar, D. N.; Elsner, J. B.

1985-01-01

Large scale circulation features are presented as related to wet spells over northeast Brazil (Nordeste) during the rainy season (March and April) of 1979. The rainy season season is devided into dry and wet periods, the FGGE and geostationary satellite data was averaged and mean and departure fields of basic variables and cloudiness were studied. Analysis of seasonal mean circulation features show: lowest sea level easterlies beneath upper level westerlies; weak meridional winds; high relative humidity over the Amazon basin and relatively dry conditions over the South Atlantic Ocean. A fluctuation was found in the large scale circulation features on time scales of a few weeks or so over Nordeste and the South Atlantic sector. Even the subtropical High SLP's have large departures during wet episodes, implying a short period oscillation in the Southern Hemisphere Hadley circulation.

Benefit Evaluation of Wind Turbine Generators in Wind Farms Using Capacity-Factor Analysis and Economic-Cost Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Zhe; Wang, L.; Yeh, T-H.

2009-01-01

Due to the recent price spike of the international oil and the concern of global warming, the development and deployment of renewable energy become one of the most important energy policies around the globe. Currently, there are different capacities and hub heights for commercial wind turbine gen...... height for WTGs that have been installed in Taiwan. Important outcomes affecting wind cost of energy in comparison with economic results using the proposed economic-analysis methods for different WFs are also presented.......Due to the recent price spike of the international oil and the concern of global warming, the development and deployment of renewable energy become one of the most important energy policies around the globe. Currently, there are different capacities and hub heights for commercial wind turbine...... generators (WTGs). To fully capture wind energy, different wind farms (WFs) should select adequate capacity of WTGs to effectively harvest wind energy and maximize their economic benefit. To establish selection criterion, this paper first derives the equations for capacity factor (CF) and pairing performance...

The response of East Asian Summer Monsoon to a Global Warming Scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Stan, C.; Jin, Y.

2016-12-01

The response of East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) to the abrupt quadrupling of atmospheric CO2 concentration is investigated using the Super-Parameterized Community Climate Model, version 4 (SP-CCSM4). The EASM precipitation and circulation intensify in response to global warming and these changes are related to the westward extension of the Western North Pacific Subtropical High (WNPSH). The displacement of WNPSH is caused by two mechanisms: i) the increase of sea surface temperature and ii) the reduction of latent heat flux over the South China Sea and adjacent western Pacific Ocean. The changes in the surface fluxes over the tropics induce a Gill-type anti-cyclonic circulation to the north of the heating anomaly and a Rossy wave train from the tropics into the midlatitude Pacific Ocean. The westerly anomalies on the northern side of the anticyclone strengthen the southwesterly flow on the western edge of WNPSH. This flow further affects the wind anomalies and moisture transport over East Asia.

Limitation of solar energy and wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, R. S.

2008-01-01

Wind turbines, solar energy collectors and photovoltaic cells have been popular sources of electricity since the oil crisis in the late seventies, and they are increasingly favored by many scientists and much of the public as methods for reducing global warming. The older wind farms in California are outdated. New wind turbines have not followed, primarily because of competition from lower-cost natural gas. The Times urges increased federal and state subsidies for the wind and solar industries. The primary reason that wind and solar energies have not made inroads in the past, and will never supply more than a few percentage points of the world's electrical energy, is their unpredictable variations in time and their constant need for back-ups. The only non-carbon-dioxide-emitting generator capable of backing up wind and solar energy and replacing coal and gas generators is nuclear fission. Nuclear power may be the practical solution to global warming, after all.

Thermospheric zonal mean winds and tides revealed by CHAMP

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lieberman, R.S.; Akmaev, R.A.; Fuller-Rowell, T.J.; Doornbos, E.

2013-01-01

We present direct, global observations of longitudinally averaged CHAMP zonal winds gathered between 2003 and 2007. A diurnal variation dominates the global zonal wind. Westward flows are observed from the early morning through afternoon hours, while eastward flows peak in the evening. A semidiurnal

The social acceptability of wind turbines: some resident are ready to pay to keep their wind turbines. Survey on four French wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-06-01

The authors report a study which aimed at exploiting and deepening the results of a 2001 survey on visual and sound disturbances caused by wind turbines in Sigean (Aude), at identifying all the attitudes and opinions with respect with wind energy, and at assessing the different characteristics of a wind farm (height, localization, and so on). A survey has been performed on four sites located in different French regions. The authors discuss the social-demographic characteristics of the population samples, the global opinion on wind energy, and the opinion of the people on wind turbines located in their neighbourhood. They propose an estimation of benefits and damages related to the vicinity of wind turbines. By applying a method of choice experiments, they reveal the preferences of residents

Performance of spanish wind turbines. Year 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lago, C.

1997-01-01

In this document we can find a statistical evaluation for the wind energy generation from each spanish wind farm referred to 1995 going on with the work that has been carried out since 1992, by initiative of the Wind Energy Division from Renewable Energy Institute. The purpose of this work is to contribute with interesting information for the wind environment and offer a global view from monthly performances of different wind farms. (Author)

Performance of spanish wind turbines. Year 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lago, C.

1998-01-01

In this document we can find a statistical evaluation for the wind energy generation from each spanish wind farm referred to 1996 going on with the work that has been carried out since 1992, by initiative of the Wind Energy Division from Renewable Energy Institute. The purpose of this work is to contribute with interesting information for the wind environment and offer a global view from monthly performances of different wind farms. (Author) 4 refs

The Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment: Ten Years Ago

Science.gov (United States)

Bird, Michael; Dutta-Roy, Robin; Dzierma, Yvonne; Atkinson, David; Allison, Michael; Asmar, Sami; Folkner, William; Preston, Robert; Plettemeier, Dirk; Tyler, Len; Edenhofer, Peter

2015-04-01

The Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) achieved its primary scientific goal: the derivation of Titan's vertical wind profile from the start of Probe descent to the surface. The carrier frequency of the ultra-stable Huygens radio signal at 2040 MHz was recorded using special narrow-band receivers at two large radio telescopes on Earth: the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia. Huygens drifted predominantly eastward during the parachute descent, providing the first in situ confirmation of Titan's prograde super-rotational zonal winds. A region of surprisingly weak wind with associated strong vertical shear reversal was discovered within the range of altitudes from 65 to 100 km. Below this level, the zonal wind subsided monotonically from 35 m/s to about 7 km, at which point it reversed direction. The vertical profile of the near-surface winds implies the existence of a planetary boundary layer. Recent results on Titan atmospheric circulation within the context of the DWE will be reviewed.

Intercomparison of the Charnock and COARE bulk wind stress formulations for coastal ocean modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. M. Brown

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The accurate parameterisation of momentum and heat transfer across the air–sea interface is vital for realistic simulation of the atmosphere–ocean system. In most modelling applications accurate representation of the wind stress is required to numerically reproduce surge, coastal ocean circulation, surface waves, turbulence and mixing. Different formulations can be implemented and impact the accuracy of the instantaneous and long-term residual circulation, the surface mixed layer, and the generation of wave-surge conditions. This, in turn, affects predictions of storm impact, sediment pathways, and coastal resilience to climate change. The specific numerical formulation needs careful selection to ensure the accuracy of the simulation. Two wind stress parameterisations widely used in the ocean circulation and the storm surge communities respectively are studied with focus on an application to the NW region of the UK. Model–observation validation is performed at two nearshore and one estuarine ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profiler stations in Liverpool Bay, a hypertidal region of freshwater influence (ROFI with vast intertidal areas. The period of study covers both calm and extreme conditions to test the robustness of the 10 m wind stress component of the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE bulk formulae and the standard Charnock relation. In this coastal application a realistic barotropic–baroclinic simulation of the circulation and surge elevation is set-up, demonstrating greater accuracy occurs when using the Charnock relation, with a constant Charnock coefficient of 0.0185, for surface wind stress during this one month period.

Environmental impact of wind energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Jakob; Teilmann, Jonas

2013-01-01

One purpose of wind turbines is to provide pollution-free electric power at a reasonable price in an environmentally sound way. In this focus issue the latest research on the environmental impact of wind farms is presented. Offshore wind farms affect the marine fauna in both positive and negative...... ways. For example, some farms are safe havens for porpoises while other farms show fewer harbor porpoises even after ten years. Atmospheric computer experiments are carried out to investigate the possible impact and resource of future massive installations of wind turbines. The following questions...... are treated. What is the global capacity for energy production by the wind? Will the added turbulence and reduced wind speeds generated by massive wind farms cool or heat the surface? Can wind farms affect precipitation? It is also shown through life-cycle analysis how wind energy can reduce the atmospheric...

Blowing in the China wind: engagements with Chineseness in Hong Kong’s 'zhongguofeng' music videos

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chow, Y.F.; de Kloet, J.

2010-01-01

While songs with distinct Chinese characteristics, whether musically or lyrically, have always been part of local pop history, "China Wind" (zhongguofeng) is a novel phenomenon. Above all, China Wind owes its production and circulation as a discursive formation to its endorsement by mainstream

Large-Scale Ocean Circulation-Cloud Interactions Reduce the Pace of Transient Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Trossman, D. S.; Palter, J. B.; Merlis, T. M.; Huang, Y.; Xia, Y.

2016-01-01

Changes to the large scale oceanic circulation are thought to slow the pace of transient climate change due, in part, to their influence on radiative feedbacks. Here we evaluate the interactions between CO2-forced perturbations to the large-scale ocean circulation and the radiative cloud feedback in a climate model. Both the change of the ocean circulation and the radiative cloud feedback strongly influence the magnitude and spatial pattern of surface and ocean warming. Changes in the ocean circulation reduce the amount of transient global warming caused by the radiative cloud feedback by helping to maintain low cloud coverage in the face of global warming. The radiative cloud feedback is key in affecting atmospheric meridional heat transport changes and is the dominant radiative feedback mechanism that responds to ocean circulation change. Uncertainty in the simulated ocean circulation changes due to CO2 forcing may contribute a large share of the spread in the radiative cloud feedback among climate models.

Wind energy barometer - EurObserv'ER - February 2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-02-01

Notwithstanding the economic crisis affecting most of the globe's major economies, wind energy continues to gain supporters around the world. Global wind power capacity increased by 40.5 GW between 2010 and 2011 compared to a 39 GW rise between 2009 and 2010, after deduction of decommissioned capacity. By the end of 2011 global installed wind turbine capacity should stand at around 238.5 GW, and much of the world's growth is being driven by capacity build-up in the emerging markets. In contrast some of the key wind energy markets may be showing fault lines

Addressing carbon Offsetters’ Paradox: Lessons from Chinese wind CDM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Gang; Morse, Richard

2013-01-01

The clean development mechanism (CDM) has been a leading international carbon market and a driving force for sustainable development. But the eruption of controversy over offsets from Chinese wind power in 2009 exposed cracks at the core of how carbon credits are verified in the developing economies. The Chinese wind controversy therefore has direct implications for the design and negotiation of any successor to the Kyoto Protocol or future market-based carbon regimes. In order for carbon markets to avoid controversy and function effectively, the lessons from the Chinese wind controversy should be used to implement key reforms in current and future carbon policy design. The paper examines the application of additionality in the Chinese wind power market and draws implications for the design of effective global carbon offset policy. It demonstrates the causes of the wind power controversy, highlights underlying structural flaws, in how additionality is applied in China, the Offsetters' Paradox, and charts a reform path that can strengthen the credibility of global carbon markets. - Highlights: • We investigated 143 Chinese wind CDM projects by the eruption of the additionality controversy. • We examined the application of additionality in the Chinese wind power market. • We drew implications for the design of effective global carbon offset policy. • The underlying structural flaws of CDM, the Offsetters′ Paradox, was discussed. • We charted a reform path that can strengthen the credibility of global carbon markets

Requirements and Technology Advances for Global Wind Measurement with a Coherent Lidar: A Shrinking Gap

Science.gov (United States)

Kavaya, Michael J.; Kavaya, Michael J.; Yu, Jirong; Koch, Grady J.; Amzajerdian, Farzin; Singh, Upendra N.; Emmitt, G. David

2007-01-01

Early concepts to globally measure vertical profiles of vector horizontal wind from space planned on an orbit height of 525 km, a single pulsed coherent Doppler lidar system to cover the full troposphere, and a continuously rotating telescope/scanner that mandated a vertical line of sight wind profile from each laser shot. Under these conditions system studies found that laser pulse energies of approximately 20 J at 10 Hz pulse repetition rate with a rotating telescope diameter of approximately 1.5 m was required. Further requirements to use solid state laser technology and an eyesafe wavelength led to the relatively new 2-micron solid state laser. With demonstrated pulse energies near 20 mJ at 5 Hz, and no demonstration of a rotating telescope maintaining diffraction limited performance in space, the technology gap between requirements and demonstration was formidable. Fortunately the involved scientists and engineers set out to reduce the gap, and through a combination of clever ideas and technology advances over the last 15 years, they have succeeded. This paper will detail the gap reducing factors and will present the current status.

Prognostic cloud water in the Los Alamos general circulation model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kristjansson, J.E.; Kao, C.Y.J.

1993-01-01

Most of today's general circulation models (GCMS) have a greatly simplified treatment of condensation and clouds. Recent observational studies of the earth's radiation budget have suggested cloud-related feedback mechanisms to be of tremendous importance for the issue of global change. Thus, there has arisen an urgent need for improvements in the treatment of clouds in GCMS, especially as the clouds relate to radiation. In the present paper, we investigate the effects of introducing pregnostic cloud water into the Los Alamos GCM. The cloud water field, produced by both stratiform and convective condensation, is subject to 3-dimensional advection and vertical diffusion. The cloud water enters the radiation calculations through the long wave emissivity calculations. Results from several sensitivity simulations show that realistic cloud water and precipitation fields can be obtained with the applied method. Comparisons with observations show that the most realistic results are obtained when more sophisticated schemes for moist convection are introduced at the same time. The model's cold bias is reduced and the zonal winds become stronger, due to more realistic tropical convection

Prognostic cloud water in the Los Alamos general circulation model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kristjansson, J.E.; Kao, C.Y.J.

1994-01-01

Most of today's general circulation models (GCMs) have a greatly simplified treatment of condensation and clouds. Recent observational studies of the earth's radiation budget have suggested cloud-related feedback mechanisms to be of tremendous importance for the issue of global change. Thus, an urgent need for improvements in the treatment of clouds in GCMs has arisen, especially as the clouds relate to radiation. In this paper, we investigate the effects of introducing prognostic cloud water into the Los Alamos GCM. The cloud water field, produced by both stratiform and convective condensation, is subject to 3-dimensional advection and vertical diffusion. The cloud water enters the radiation calculations through the longwave emissivity calculations. Results from several sensitivity simulations show that realistic water and precipitation fields can be obtained with the applied method. Comparisons with observations show that the most realistic results are obtained when more sophisticated schemes for moist convection are introduced at the same time. The model's cold bias is reduced and the zonal winds becomes stronger because of more realistic tropical convection

On the relative importance of loads acting on a floating vertical axis wind turbine system when evaluating the global system response

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Collu, Maurizio; Borg, Michael; Manuel, Lance

2016-01-01

Interest in offshore floating wind turbines has been growing over the last decade. While a number of studies have been conducted to model the dynamics of offshore floating HAWT systems (e.g. OC3-Phase IV, OC4-Phase II), relatively few studies have been conducted on floating VAWT systems, despite...... offshore floating VAWT, considering a turbulent wind field and stochastically generated waves, to assess the more critical loads and distinguish them from those with negligible effect, when estimating the global system response. The floating VAWT system considered is comprised of a 5MW rotor supported...

China Wind Power 2010 Will Be Held Soon

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2010-01-01

China Wind Power 2010 (CWP) will be held on October 13 in the New Venue of the China International Exhibition Center (New CIEC). The exhibition is hosted by the Global Wind Energy Council, Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association and the Chinese Wind Energy Association.

Changes on Mid-Latitude Cyclones due to Global Warming Simulated by a Global 20-km-mesh Atmospheric Model

Science.gov (United States)

Miyamoto, K.

2005-12-01

I investigate how the intensity and the activity of mid-latitude cyclones change as a result of global warming, based on a time-slice experiment with a super-high resolution Atmospheric General Circulation Model (20-km mesh TL959L60 MRI/JMA AGCM). The model was developed by the RR2002 project "Development of Super High Resolution Global and Regional Climate Models" funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In this context, I use a 10-year control simulation with the climatological SST and a 10-year time-slice global warming simulation using the SST anomalies derived from the SRES A1B scenario run with the MRI-CGCM2.3 (T42L30 atmosphere, 0.5-2.0 x 2.5 L23 ocean) corresponding to the end of the 21st century. I have analyzed the sea-level pressure field and the kinetic energy field of the wind at the 500 hPa pressure level associated with mid-latitude transients from October through April. According to a comparison of 10-day average fields between present and future in the North Pacific, some statistically significant changes are found in a warmer climate for the both of sea-level pressure and the kinetic energy fields. In particular, from late winter through early spring, the sea-level pressure decreases on many parts of the whole Pacific. The kinetic energy of the wind becomes higher on center of the basin. Therefore, I suppose the Aleutian Low is likely to settle in longer by about one month than the present. Hereafter, I plan to investigate what kind of phenomena may accompany the changes on mid-latitude transients.

CubeSat Constellation Cloud Winds(C3Winds) A New Wind Observing System to Study Mesoscale Cloud Dynamics and Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, D. L.; Kelly, M.A.; Yee, J.-H.; Boldt, J.; Demajistre, R.; Reynolds, E. L.; Tripoli, G. J.; Oman, L. D.; Prive, N.; Heidinger, A. K.;

Large-scale circulation departures related to wet episodes in north-east Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Sikdar, Dhirendra N.; Elsner, James B.

1987-01-01

Large scale circulation features are presented as related to wet spells over northeast Brazil (Nordeste) during the rainy season (March and April) of 1979. The rainy season is divided into dry and wet periods; the FGGE and geostationary satellite data was averaged; and mean and departure fields of basic variables and cloudiness were studied. Analysis of seasonal mean circulation features show: lowest sea level easterlies beneath upper level westerlies; weak meridional winds; high relative humidity over the Amazon basin and relatively dry conditions over the South Atlantic Ocean. A fluctuation was found in the large scale circulation features on time scales of a few weeks or so over Nordeste and the South Atlantic sector. Even the subtropical High SLPs have large departures during wet episodes, implying a short period oscillation in the Southern Hemisphere Hadley circulation.

NASA's Newest SeaWinds Instrument Breezes Into Operation

Science.gov (United States)

2003-01-01

One of NASA's newest Earth-observing instruments, the SeaWinds scatterometer aboard Japan's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (Adeos) 2--now renamed Midori 2--has successfully transmitted its first radar data to our home planet, generating its first high-quality images.From its orbiting perch high above Earth, SeaWinds on Midori 2 ('midori' is Japanese for the color green, symbolizing the environment) will provide the world's most accurate, highest resolution and broadest geographic coverage of ocean wind speed and direction, sea ice extent and properties of Earth's land surfaces. It will complement and eventually replace an identical instrument orbiting since June 1999 on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite. Its three- to five-year mission will augment a long-term ocean surface wind data series that began in 1996 with launch of the NASA Scatterometer on Japan's first Adeos spacecraft.Climatologists, meteorologists and oceanographers will soon routinely use data from SeaWinds on Midori 2 to understand and predict severe weather patterns, climate change and global weather abnormalities like El Nino. The data are expected to improve global and regional weather forecasts, ship routing and marine hazard avoidance, measurements of sea ice extent and the tracking of icebergs, among other uses.'Midori 2, its SeaWinds instrument and associated ground processing systems are functioning very smoothly,' said Moshe Pniel, scatterometer projects manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 'Following initial checkout and calibration, we look forward to continuous operations, providing vital data to scientists and weather forecasters around the world.' 'These first images show remarkable detail over land, ice and oceans,' said Dr. Michael Freilich, Ocean Vector Winds Science Team Leader, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore. 'The combination of SeaWinds data and measurements from other instruments on Midori 2 with data from other international

Saturation wind power potential and its implications for wind energy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Mark Z; Archer, Cristina L

2012-09-25

Wind turbines convert kinetic to electrical energy, which returns to the atmosphere as heat to regenerate some potential and kinetic energy. As the number of wind turbines increases over large geographic regions, power extraction first increases linearly, but then converges to a saturation potential not identified previously from physical principles or turbine properties. These saturation potentials are >250 terawatts (TW) at 100 m globally, approximately 80 TW at 100 m over land plus coastal ocean outside Antarctica, and approximately 380 TW at 10 km in the jet streams. Thus, there is no fundamental barrier to obtaining half (approximately 5.75 TW) or several times the world's all-purpose power from wind in a 2030 clean-energy economy.

Wind versus Biofuels for Addressing Climate, Health, and Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobson, Mark Z.

2007-01-01

The favored approach today for addressing global warming is to promote a variety of options: biofuels, wind, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, geothermal, hydroelectric, and nuclear energy and to improve efficiency. However, by far, most emphasis has been on biofuels. It is shown here, though, that current-technology biofuels cannot address global warming and may slightly increase death and illness due to ozone-related air pollution. Future biofuels may theoretically slow global warming, but only temporarily and with the cost of increased air pollution mortality. In both cases, the land required renders biofuels an impractical solution. Recent measurements and statistical analyses of U.S. and world wind power carried out at Stanford University suggest that wind combined with other options can substantially address global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy needs simultaneously.

Robust Hadley Circulation Changes and Increasing Global Dryness Due to CO2 Warming from CMIP-5 Model Projections

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, William K. M.; Kim, K. M.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we investigate changes in the Hadley Circulation (HC) and their connections to increased global dryness under CO2 warming from CMIP-5 model projections. We find a strengthening of the ascending branch of the HC manifested in a deep-tropics squeeze (DTS), i.e., a deepening and narrowing of the convective zone, increased high clouds, and a rise of the level of maximum meridional mass outflow in the upper troposphere (200-100 hectopascals) of the deep tropics. The DTS induces atmospheric moisture divergence, reduces tropospheric relative humidity in the tropics and subtropics, in conjunction with a widening of the subsiding branches of the HC, resulting in increased frequency of dry events in preferred geographic locations worldwide. Among water cycle parameters examined, global dryness has the highest signal-to-noise ratio. Our results provide scientific bases for inferring that the observed tend of prolonged droughts in recent decades is likely attributable to greenhouse warming.

Large- to submesoscale surface circulation and its implications on biogeochemical/biological horizontal distributions during the OUTPACE cruise (southwest Pacific)

Science.gov (United States)

Rousselet, Louise; de Verneil, Alain; Doglioli, Andrea M.; Petrenko, Anne A.; Duhamel, Solange; Maes, Christophe; Blanke, Bruno

2018-04-01

The patterns of the large-scale, meso- and submesoscale surface circulation on biogeochemical and biological distributions are examined in the western tropical South Pacific (WTSP) in the context of the OUTPACE cruise (February-April 2015). Multi-disciplinary original in situ observations were achieved along a zonal transect through the WTSP and their analysis was coupled with satellite data. The use of Lagrangian diagnostics allows for the identification of water mass pathways, mesoscale structures, and submesoscale features such as fronts. In particular, we confirmed the existence of a global wind-driven southward circulation of surface waters in the entire WTSP, using a new high-resolution altimetry-derived product, validated by in situ drifters, that includes cyclogeostrophy and Ekman components with geostrophy. The mesoscale activity is shown to be responsible for counter-intuitive water mass trajectories in two subregions: (i) the Coral Sea, with surface exchanges between the North Vanuatu Jet and the North Caledonian Jet, and (ii) around 170° W, with an eastward pathway, whereas a westward general direction dominates. Fronts and small-scale features, detected with finite-size Lyapunov exponents (FSLEs), are correlated with 25 % of surface tracer gradients, which reveals the significance of such structures in the generation of submesoscale surface gradients. Additionally, two high-frequency sampling transects of biogeochemical parameters and microorganism abundances demonstrate the influence of fronts in controlling the spatial distribution of bacteria and phytoplankton, and as a consequence the microbial community structure. All circulation scales play an important role that has to be taken into account not only when analysing the data from OUTPACE but also, more generally, for understanding the global distribution of biogeochemical components.

The 2015-16 El Niño - Birth, Evolution and Teleconnections from Scatterometer Observations of the Ocean Surface Winds

Science.gov (United States)

Hristova-Veleva, S. M.; Lee, T.; Stiles, B. W.; Rodriguez, E.; Turk, J.; Haddad, Z. S.

2016-12-01

The 2015-16 El Niño is one of the strongest events observed during the modern instrumentation period, rivaling the two big ones observed by satellites during 1982-83 and 1997-98. Yet, the precipitation anomalies differ from the expectations that were based on these two events. While El Niño events have a significant impact on the entire Earth System, they are most easily visible in measurements of sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height (SSH) and ocean winds near the surface. In fact, the signature eastward-blowing anomalous surface winds in the Western and Central Tropical Pacific are the pre-cursor and the main driver of the El Nino events. Here we use observations from NASA's RapidScat, EUMETSAT's ASCAT and also from collocated ECMWF analysis to monitor the evolution of the anomalous winds associated with the 2015-16 El Niño. To detect the El Nino signal, we first compute monthly means of the wind speed, wind components and wind convergence. We then perform a low-pass filter to extract the components of the larger-scale circulation and compute the 2015-2016 anomalies with respect to the corresponding months of 2014-2015. We find fast-evolving wind anomalies and relate them to the evolution of the SST field as depicted in the observations-based OSTIA product. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between the GPM-observed precipitation and the surface wind convergence observed by the scatterometers. El Niño is known to have basin to global scale teleconnections. In addition to the characterization of the changes in the tropical Pacific, we will also describe the associated changes in the North and South Pacific. In particular, a strong anticyclonic anomaly is observed in the north-eastern Pacific. This anomalous circulation is likely associated with the subsidence (divergent) region of a stronger-than-normal Hadley cell, leading to modification of the midlatitude storm tracks and the related precipitation anomalies. Furthermore, these

Determination of recoverable wind energy for electricity generation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Utilization of renewable energy source, essentially the wind energy, has been growing rapidly in the whole world due to environmental pollution, consumption of the limited fossil fuels and global warming. Moreover, wind resource determination is a fundamental step in planning a wind energy project and exhaustive ...

Jet stream wind power as a renewable energy resource: little power, big impacts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. M. Miller

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Jet streams are regions of sustained high wind speeds in the upper atmosphere and are seen by some as a substantial renewable energy resource. However, jet streams are nearly geostrophic flow, that is, they result from the balance between the pressure gradient and Coriolis force in the near absence of friction. Therefore, jet stream motion is associated with very small generation rates of kinetic energy to maintain the high wind velocities, and it is this generation rate that will ultimately limit the potential use of jet streams as a renewable energy resource. Here we estimate the maximum limit of jet stream wind power by considering extraction of kinetic energy as a term in the free energy balance of kinetic energy that describes the generation, depletion, and extraction of kinetic energy. We use this balance as the basis to quantify the maximum limit of how much kinetic energy can be extracted sustainably from the jet streams of the global atmosphere as well as the potential climatic impacts of its use. We first use a simple thought experiment of geostrophic flow to demonstrate why the high wind velocities of the jet streams are not associated with a high potential for renewable energy generation. We then use an atmospheric general circulation model to estimate that the maximum sustainable extraction from jet streams of the global atmosphere is about 7.5 TW. This estimate is about 200-times less than previous estimates and is due to the fact that the common expression for instantaneous wind power 12 ρv³ merely characterizes the transport of kinetic energy by the flow, but not the generation rate of kinetic energy. We also find that when maximum wind power is extracted from the jet streams, it results in significant

Calculation and design of steel bearing structure for wind turbine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bešević Miroslav

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Wind represents directed movement of the air and is caused by differences in atmospheric pressure which are caused by uneven heating of air masses. Global and local winds can be distinguished. Global winds have high altitude, while local winds occur in the ground layer of the atmosphere. Given that the global wings have high altitude they cannot be used as propellant for wind generators, but they should be known for their effects on the winds in the lower atmosphere. Modern wind turbines are made with a horizontal axle that has a system for the swiveling axis in the horizontal plane for tracking wind direction changes. They can have different number of blades, but for larger forces three blades are commonly used because they provide the greatest efficiency. Rotor diameter of these turbines depends on the strength and it ranges from 30 m for the power of 300 kW to 115 m for the power of 5 MW. Wind turbines are mounted on vertical steel tower which can be high even more than 100 m. Depending on the diameter of the turbine rotor, column is usually built as steel conical and less often as a steel-frame. This study includes analysis and design of steel tower for wind generator made by manufacturer Vestas, type V112 3MW HH 119 (power 3.2 MW for the construction of wind farm 'Kovačica'.

The resilience of Australian wind energy to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Jason P.; Kay, Merlinde; Prasad, Abhnil; Pitman, Andy

2018-02-01

The Paris Agreement limits global average temperature rise to 2 °C and commits to pursuing efforts in limiting warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. This will require rapid reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases and the eventual decarbonisation of the global economy. Wind energy is an established technology to help achieve emissions reductions, with a cumulative global installed capacity of ~486 GW (2016). Focusing on Australia, we assess the future economic viability of wind energy using a 12-member ensemble of high-resolution regional climate simulations forced by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) output. We examine both near future (around 2030) and far future (around 2070) changes. Extractable wind power changes vary across the continent, though the most spatially coherent change is a small but significant decrease across southern regions. The cost of future wind energy generation, measured via the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE), increases negligibly in the future in regions with significant existing installed capacity. Technological developments in wind energy generation more than compensate for projected small reductions in wind, decreasing the LCOE by around 30%. These developments ensure viability for existing wind farms, and enhance the economic viability of proposed wind farms in Western Australian and Tasmania. Wind energy is therefore a resilient source of electricity over most of Australia and technological innovation entering the market will open new regions for energy production in the future.

Future changes to the Indonesian Throughflow and Pacific circulation : The differing role of wind and deep circulation changes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sen Gupta, Alex; McGregor, Shayne; Van Sebille, Erik; Ganachaud, Alexandre; Brown, Jaclyn N.; Santoso, Agus

2016-01-01

Climate models consistently project a substantial decrease in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) in response to enhanced greenhouse warming. On interannual timescales ITF changes are largely related to tropical Pacific wind variability. However, on the multidecadal timescales investigated here we

Doppler Wind Lidar Measurements and Scalability to Space

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Global measurements of wind speed and direction from Doppler wind lidars, if available, would significantly improve forecasting of severe weather events such as...

Spherical Harmonics Analysis of the ECMWF Global Wind Fields at the 10-Meter Height Level During 1985: A Collection of Figures Illustrating Results

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez, Braulio V.; Nishihama, Masahiro

1997-01-01

Half-daily global wind speeds in the east-west (u) and north-south (v) directions at the 10-meter height level were obtained from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data set of global analyses. The data set covered the period 1985 January to 1995 January. A spherical harmonic expansion to degree and order 50 was used to perform harmonic analysis of the east-west (u) and north-south (v) velocity field components. The resulting wind field is displayed, as well as the residual of the fit, at a particular time. The contribution of particular coefficients is shown. The time variability of the coefficients up to degree and order 3 is presented. Corresponding power spectrum plots are given. Time series analyses were applied also to the power associated with degrees 0-10; the results are included.

U.S. Wind Energy Manufacturing & Supply Chain: A Competitive Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fullenkamp, Patrick [Global WindNetwork, Cleveland, OH (United States)

2014-06-15

The Global Wind Network (GLWN) assessed the key factors that determine wind energy component manufacturing costs and pricing on a global basis in order to provide a better understanding of the factors that will help enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, and reduce installed system costs.

Current Status and Challenges in Wind Energy Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gryning, Sven-Erik; Badger, Jake; Hahmann, Andrea N.

2014-01-01

Here we discuss the status and challenges in the development of atlases for the assessment of the regional and global wind resources. The text more specifically describes a methodology that is under development at DTU Wind Energy in Denmark. As the wind assessment is based on mesoscale modelling,......, some of the specific challenges in mesoscale modelling for wind energy purposes are discussed such as wind profiles and long-term statistics of the wind speed time series. Solutions to these challenges will help secure an economic and effective deployment of wind energy....

A finite element simulation of tidal circulation in the Gulf of Kutch, India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Unnikrishnan, A.S.; Luick, J.L.

difference model for the same region. The results were found to be consistent, with the fe model providing improved resolution in key areas. Residual circulation evaluated by forcing the fe model with Md2 tide and winds (those typical of the southwest monsoon...

Opportunities for high wind energy penetration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tande, J.O.; Hansen, J.C.

1997-01-01

Wind power is today a mature technology, which at windy locations, is economically competitive to conventional power generation technologies. This and growing global environmental concerns have led governments to encourage and plan for wind energy development, a typical aim being 10% of electricity...... consumption. The successful operation of the three major power systems of Cape Verde, with a total wind energy penetration of about 15% since December 1994, demonstrates that power systems can be operated with high penetration of wind energy by adding simple control and monitoring systems only. Thorough...... analyses conclude that expanding to even above 15% wind energy penetration in the Cape Verde power systems is economical. Worldwide, numerous locations with favorable wind conditions and power systems similar to the Capeverdean provide good opportunities for installing wind farms and achieving high wind...

Interannual variation of the South China Sea circulation during winter: intensified in the southern basin

Science.gov (United States)

Zu, Tingting; Xue, Huijie; Wang, Dongxiao; Geng, Bingxu; Zeng, Lili; Liu, Qinyan; Chen, Ju; He, Yunkai

2018-05-01

Surface geostrophic current derived from altimetry remote sensing data, and current profiles observed from in-situ Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) mooring in the northern South China Sea (NSCS) and southern South China Sea (SSCS) are utilized to study the kinetic and energetic interannual variability of the circulation in the South China Sea (SCS) during winter. Results reveal a more significant interannual variation of the circulation and water mass properties in the SSCS than that in the NSCS. Composite ananlysis shows a significantly reduced western boundary current (WBC) and a closed cyclonic eddy in the SSCS at the mature phase of El Niño event, but a strong WBC and an unclosed cyclonic circulation in winter at normal or La Niña years. The SST is warmer while the subsurface water is colder and fresher in the mature phase of El Niño event than that in the normal or La Niña years in the SSCS. Numerical experiments and energy analysis suggest that both local and remote wind stress change are important for the interannual variation in the SSCS, remote wind forcing and Kuroshio intrusion affect the circulation and water mass properties in the SSCS through WBC advection.

Extreme wind atlases of South Africa from global reanalysis data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsén, Xiaoli Guo; Kruger, Andries; Badger, Jake

2013-01-01

Extreme wind atlases of South Africa were developed using three reanalysis data and recently developed approaches. The results are compared with the maps produced using standard wind measurements over the region. It was found that different reanalyses with the same approach provide similar spatia...

Optical measurements of winds in the lower thermosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiens, R.H.; Shepherd, G.G.; Gault, W.A.; Kosteniuk, P.R.

1988-01-01

WAMDII, the wide-angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer, was used to measure the neutral wind in the lower thermosphere by the Doppler shift of the O I 557-nm line. Observations were made at Saskatoon (60.5 degree N invariant) around the spring equinox of 1985 with WAMDII coupled to an all-sky lens. With dopplergrams averaged over 3 to 30 min, no evidence was found for persistent highly localized winds on either of the two nights studied, one viewing only aurora and one viewing only airglow. The nocturnal variation was determined for both nights using average horizontal wind for the whole all-sky image. The pattern for the auroral case shows winds parallel to the aurora orientation in the evening but substantial crosswinds near midnight. High latitude general circulation models seem to represent this case better than local auroral generation models. The airglow case showed eastward winds in the morning sector

Wind power costs expected to decrease due to technological progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, Eric; Hittinger, Eric; Carvalho, Rexon; Williams, Ryan

2017-01-01

The potential for future cost reductions in wind power affects adoption and support policies. Prior analyses of cost reductions give inconsistent results. The learning rate, or fractional cost reduction per doubling of production, ranges from −3% to +33% depending on the study. This lack of consensus has, we believe, contributed to high variability in forecasts of future costs of wind power. We find that learning rate can be very sensitive to the starting and ending years of datasets and the geographical scope of the study. Based on a single factor experience curve that accounts for capacity factor gains, wind quality decline, and exogenous shifts in capital costs, we develop an improved model with reduced temporal variability. Using a global adoption model, the wind-learning rate is between 7.7% and 11%, with a preferred estimate of 9.8%. Using global scenarios for future wind deployment, this learning rate range implies that the cost of wind power will decline from 5.5 cents/kWh in 2015 to 4.1–4.5 cents/kWh in 2030, lower than a number of other forecasts. If attained, wind power may be the cheapest form of new electricity generation by 2030, suggesting that support and investment in wind should be maintained or expanded. - Highlights: • Expectations for cost reductions in wind power is important for policy. • Wind learning rates are sensitive to data time period and regional choice. • We develop improved wind cost model with much reduced variability. • New model gives global wind learning rates between 7.7%-11%.

A Statistical Evaluation of Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models: Complexity vs. Simplicity

OpenAIRE

Robert K. Kaufmann; David I. Stern

2004-01-01

The principal tools used to model future climate change are General Circulation Models which are deterministic high resolution bottom-up models of the global atmosphere-ocean system that require large amounts of supercomputer time to generate results. But are these models a cost-effective way of predicting future climate change at the global level? In this paper we use modern econometric techniques to evaluate the statistical adequacy of three general circulation models (GCMs) by testing thre...

Proceedings of the 2004 NASA/ONR Circulation Control Workshop, Part 1

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Gregory S. (Editor); Joslin, Ronald D. (Editor)

2005-01-01

As technological advances influence the efficiency and effectiveness of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic applications, designs and operations, this workshop was intended to address the technologies, systems, challenges and successes specific to Coanda driven circulation control in aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. A major goal of this workshop was to determine the 2004 state-of-the-art in circulation control and understand the roadblocks to its application. The workshop addressed applications, CFD, and experiments related to circulation control, emphasizing fundamental physics, systems analysis, and applied research. The workshop consisted of 34 single session oral presentations and written papers that focused on Naval hydrodynamic vehicles (e.g. submarines), Fixed Wing Aviation, V/STOL platforms, propulsion systems (including wind turbine systems), ground vehicles (automotive and trucks) and miscellaneous applications (e.g., poultry exhaust systems and vacuum systems). Several advanced CFD codes were benchmarked using a two-dimensional NCCR circulation control airfoil. The CFD efforts highlighted inconsistencies in turbulence modeling, separation and performance predictions.

Impact of cloud radiative heating on East Asian summer monsoon circulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Zhun; Zhou, Tianjun; Wang, Minghuai; Qian, Yun

2015-01-01

The impacts of cloud radiative heating on the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) over southeastern China (105°–125°E, 20°–35°N) are addressed by using the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Sensitivity experiments demonstrate that the radiative heating of clouds leads to a positive effect on the local EASM circulation over southeastern China. Without the radiative heating of clouds, the EASM circulation and precipitation would be much weaker than that in normal conditions. The longwave heating of clouds dominates the changes of EASM circulation. The positive effect of clouds on EASM circulation is explained by the thermodynamic energy equation, i.e. the different heating rate between cloud base and cloud top enhances the convective instability over southeastern China, which consequently enhances updraft. The strong updraft would further result in a southward meridional wind above the center of the updraft through Sverdrup vorticity balance. (letter)

Meridional overturning and large-scale circulation of the Indian Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Ganachaud, Alexandre; Wunsch, Carl; Marotzke, Jochem; Toole, John

2000-11-01

The large scale Indian Ocean circulation is estimated from a global hydrographic inverse geostrophic box model with a focus on the meridional overturning circulation (MOC). The global model is based on selected recent World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) sections which in the Indian Basin consist of zonal sections at 32°S, 20°S and 8°S, and a section between Bali and Australia from the Java-Australia Dynamic Experiment (JADE). The circulation is required to conserve mass, salinity, heat, silica and "PO" (170PO4+O2). Near-conservation is imposed within layers bounded by neutral surfaces, while permitting advective and diffusive exchanges between the layers. Conceptually, the derived circulation is an estimate of the average circulation for the period 1987-1995. A deep inflow into the Indian Basin of 11±4 Sv is found, which is in the lower range of previous estimates, but consistent with conservation requirements and the global data set. The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is estimated at 15±5 Sv. The flow in the Mozambique Channel is of the same magnitude, implying a weak net flow between Madagascar and Australia. A net evaporation of -0.6±0.4 Sv is found between 32°S and 8°S, consistent with independent estimates. No net heat gain is found over the Indian Basin (0.1 ± 0.2PW north of 32°S) as a consequence of the large warm water influx from the ITF. Through the use of anomaly equations, the average dianeutral upwelling and diffusion between the sections are required and resolved, with values in the range 1-3×10-5 cm s-1 for the upwelling and 2-10 cm2 s-1 for the diffusivity.

Wind power barometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

The worldwide wind power increased by 12.4% in 2013 to reach 318.6 GW but the world market globally decreased by losing 10 GW: only 35.6 GW have been installed in 2013 which is even less than was installed in 2009. This activity contraction is mainly due to the collapse of the American market, American authorities having been late to decide to maintain federal incentives. The European wind power market also contracted in 2013 because of the lack of trust of the investors in the new energy policies of the European governments. In the rest of the world wind energy has kept on growing particularly in China and Canada. At the end of 2013 the cumulated wind power reached 117,73 GW in Europe. About 1.5 MW out of 10 MW of wind power installed in Europe in 2013 come from off-shore wind farms, United-Kingdom and Denmark being the most important players by totalling more than 70% of the off-shore wind power installed at the end of 2013. Various charts and tables give the figures of the wind power cumulated and installed in 2013 in different parts of the world: Europe, North America and Asia, the time evolution of the worldwide wind power since 1995, the wind power cumulated and installed in 2013 for the different countries of Europe and the ratio between the cumulated wind power and the country population. A table lists the main manufacturers of wind turbines and gives their turnover and number of employees at the end of 2013

Where do winds come from? A new theory on how water vapor condensation influences atmospheric pressure and dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Makarieva, A. M.; Gorshkov, V. G.; Sheil, D.; Nobre, A. D.; Li, B.-L.

2013-01-01

Phase transitions of atmospheric water play a ubiquitous role in the Earth's climate system, but their direct impact on atmospheric dynamics has escaped wide attention. Here we examine and advance a theory as to how condensation influences atmospheric pressure through the mass removal of water from the gas phase with a simultaneous account of the latent heat release. Building from fundamental physical principles we show that condensation is associated with a decline in air pressure in the lower atmosphere. This decline occurs up to a certain height, which ranges from 3 to 4 km for surface temperatures from 10 to 30 °C. We then estimate the horizontal pressure differences associated with water vapor condensation and find that these are comparable in magnitude with the pressure differences driving observed circulation patterns. The water vapor delivered to the atmosphere via evaporation represents a store of potential energy available to accelerate air and thus drive winds. Our estimates suggest that the global mean power at which this potential energy is released by condensation is around one per cent of the global solar power - this is similar to the known stationary dissipative power of general atmospheric circulation. We conclude that condensation and evaporation merit attention as major, if previously overlooked, factors in driving atmospheric dynamics.

Wind power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-06-01

This road-map proposes by the Group Total aims to inform the public on the wind power. It presents the principles, the technology takes off, its applications and technology focus, the global market trends and the outlooks and Total commitments in the domain. (A.L.B.)

Reminiscences on the study of wind waves

Science.gov (United States)

MITSUYASU, Hisashi

2015-01-01

The wind blowing over sea surface generates tiny wind waves. They develop with time and space absorbing wind energy, and become huge wind waves usually referred to ocean surface waves. The wind waves cause not only serious sea disasters but also take important roles in the local and global climate changes by affecting the fluxes of momentum, heat and gases (e.g. CO2) through the air-sea boundary. The present paper reviews the selected studies on wind waves conducted by our group in the Research Institute for Applied Mechanics (RIAM), Kyushu University. The themes discussed are interactions between water waves and winds, the energy spectrum of wind waves, nonlinear properties of wind waves, and the effects of surfactant on some air-sea interaction phenomena. PMID:25864467

Wind Stress, METOP ASCAT, 0.25 degrees, Global, Near Real Time, Modulus

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes near real time wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, METOP ASCAT, 0.25 degrees, Global, Near Real Time, Curl

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes near real time wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, METOP ASCAT, 0.25 degrees, Global, Near Real Time, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes near real time wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, METOP ASCAT, 0.25 degrees, Global, Near Real Time, Zonal

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes near real time wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Alternative Design Study Report: WindPACT Advanced Wind Turbine Drive Train Designs Study; November 1, 2000 -- February 28, 2002

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poore, R.; Lettenmaier, T.

2003-08-01

This report presents the Phase I results of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) WindPACT (Wind Partnership for Advanced Component Technologies) Advanced Wind Turbine Drive Train Designs Study. Global Energy Concepts, LLC performed this work under a subcontract with NREL. The purpose of the WindPACT project is to identify technology improvements that will enable the cost of energy (COE) from wind turbines to be reduced. Other parts of the WindPACT project have examined blade and logistics scaling, balance-of-station costs, and rotor design. This study was designed to investigate innovative drive train designs.

Future wind deployment scenarios for South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wright, Jarrad G

2017-11-01

Full Text Available understood wind (and solar) resource in South Africa combined with large geographical land-area and technology cost reductions globally and domestically for wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) has made these technologies more than competitive with alternatives...

Wind energy - The facts. Vol. 2: Costs and prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morthorst, P.E.

2004-01-01

From a European, as well as a global perspective, wind power is undergoing rapid development. Within the past 10 years the global installed capacity of wind power has increased from approximately 2.5 GW in 1992 to a little below 40 GW at the end of 2003, with an annual growth rate of around 30%. However, only at few sites with high wind speeds can wind power compete economically with conventional power production at present. This section focuses on the cost structures of a wind power plant, including the lifetime of the turbine and operation and maintenance costs. Finally, it analyses how the costs of wind power have developed in previous years and how they are expected to develop in the near future. Wind power is used in a number of different applications, including both grid connected and stand-alone electricity production, as well as water pumping. This section analyses the economics of wind energy primarily in relation to grid connected turbines which account for the vast bulk of the market value of installed turbines. (au)

Canadian small wind market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moorhouse, E.

2010-01-01

This PowerPoint presentation discussed initiatives and strategies adopted by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) to support the development of Canada's small wind market. The general public has shown a significant interest in small wind projects of 300 kW. Studies have demonstrated that familiarity and comfort with small wind projects can help to ensure the successful implementation of larger wind projects. Small wind markets include residential, farming and commercial, and remote community applications. The results of CanWEA market survey show that the small wind market grew by 78 percent in 2008 over 2007, and again in 2009 by 32 percent over 2008. The average turbine size is 1 kW. A total of 11,000 turbines were purchased in 2007 and 2008. Global small wind market growth increased by 110 percent in 2008, and the average turbine size was 2.4 kW. Eighty-seven percent of the turbines made by Canadian mid-size wind turbine manufacturers are exported, and there is now a significant risk that Canada will lose its competitive advantage in small wind manufacturing as financial incentives have not been implemented. American and Canadian-based small wind manufacturers were listed, and small wind policies were reviewed. The presentation concluded with a set of recommendations for future incentives, educational programs and legislation. tabs., figs.

Automatic Classification of Offshore Wind Regimes With Weather Radar Observations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trombe, Pierre-Julien; Pinson, Pierre; Madsen, Henrik

2014-01-01

Weather radar observations are called to play an important role in offshore wind energy. In particular, they can enable the monitoring of weather conditions in the vicinity of large-scale offshore wind farms and thereby notify the arrival of precipitation systems associated with severe wind...... and amplitude) using reflectivity observations from a single weather radar system. A categorical sequence of most likely wind regimes is estimated from a wind speed time series by combining a Markov-Switching model and a global decoding technique, the Viterbi algorithm. In parallel, attributes of precipitation...... systems are extracted from weather radar images. These attributes describe the global intensity, spatial continuity and motion of precipitation echoes on the images. Finally, a CART classification tree is used to find the broad relationships between precipitation attributes and wind regimes...

The global distribution of thermospheric odd nitrogen for solstice conditions during solar cycle minimum

Science.gov (United States)

Gerard, J.-C.; Roble, R. G.; Rusch, D. W.; Stewart, A. I.

1984-01-01

A two-dimensional model of odd nitrogen in the thermosphere and upper mesosphere is described. The global distributions of nitric oxide and atomic nitrogen are calculated for the solstice period for quiet and moderate magnetic activity during the solar minimum period. The effect of thermospheric transport by winds is investigated along with the importance of particle-induced ionization in the auroral zones. The results are compared with rocket and satellite measurements, and the sensitivity of the model to eddy diffusion and neutral winds is investigated. Downward fluxes of NO into the mesosphere are given, and their importance for stratospheric ozone is discussed. The results show that the summer-to-winter pole meridional circulation transports both NO and N(S-4) across the solar terminator into the polar night region where there is a downward vertical transport toward the mesosphere. The model shows that odd nitrogen densities at high winter latitudes are entirely controlled by particle precipitation and transport processes.

Nonlinear Response of the Stratosphere and the North Atlantic-European Climate to Global Warming

Science.gov (United States)

Manzini, E.; Karpechko, A. Yu.; Kornblueh, L.

2018-05-01

The response of the northern winter atmospheric circulation for two consecutive global warming periods of 2 K is examined in a grand ensemble (68 members) of idealized CO2 increase experiments performed with the same climate model. The comparison of the atmospheric responses for the two periods shows remarkable differences, indicating the nonlinearity of the response. The nonlinear signature of the atmospheric and surface responses is reminiscent of the positive phase of the annular mode of variability. The stratospheric vortex response shifts from an easterly wind change for the first 2 K to a westerly wind change for the second 2 K. The North Atlantic storm track shifts poleward only in the second period. A weaker November Arctic amplification during the second period suggests that differences in Arctic sea ice changes can act to trigger the atmospheric nonlinear response. Stratosphere-troposphere coupling thereafter can provide for the persistence of this nonlinearity throughout the winter.

Geophysical excitation of LOD/UT1 estimated from the output of the global circulation models of the atmosphere - ERA-40 reanalysis and of the ocean - OMCT

Science.gov (United States)

Korbacz, A.; Brzeziński, A.; Thomas, M.

2008-04-01

We use new estimates of the global atmospheric and oceanic angular momenta (AAM, OAM) to study the influence on LOD/UT1. The AAM series was calculated from the output fields of the atmospheric general circulation model ERA-40 reanalysis. The OAM series is an outcome of global ocean model OMCT simulation driven by global fields of the atmospheric parameters from the ERA- 40 reanalysis. The excitation data cover the period between 1963 and 2001. Our calculations concern atmospheric and oceanic effects in LOD/UT1 over the periods between 20 days and decades. Results are compared to those derived from the alternative AAM/OAM data sets.

Analytical Approach to Circulating Current Mitigation in Hexagram Converter-Based Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems Using Multiwinding Coupled Inductors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdullrahman A. Al-Shamma’a

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The hexagram multilevel converter (HMC is composed of six conventional two-level voltage source converters (VSCs, where each VSC module is connected to a string of PV arrays. The VSC modules are connected through inductors, which are essential to minimize the circulating current. Selecting inductors with suitable inductance is no simple process, where the inductance value should be large to minimize the circulating current as well as small to reduce an extra voltage drop. This paper analyzes the utilization of a multiwinding (e.g., two, three, and six windings coupled inductor to interconnect the six VSC modules instead of six single inductors, to minimize the circulating current inside the HMC. Then, a theoretical relationship between the total impedance to the circulating current, the number of coupled inductor windings, and the magnetizing inductance is derived. Owing to the coupled inductors, the impedance on the circulating current path is a multiple of six times the magnetizing inductance, whereas the terminal voltage is slightly affected by the leakage inductance. The HMC is controlled to work under variable solar radiation, providing active power to the grid. Additional functions such as DSTATCOM, during daytime, are also demonstrated. The controller performance is found to be satisfactory for both active and reactive power supplies.

Nutrient pumping by submesoscale circulations in the mauritanian upwelling system

Science.gov (United States)

Hosegood, P. J.; Nightingale, P. D.; Rees, A. P.; Widdicombe, C. E.; Woodward, E. M. S.; Clark, D. R.; Torres, R. J.

2017-12-01

Observations made within a cold filament in the Mauritanian upwelling system demonstrate that intense submesoscale circulations at the peripheral edges of the filament are likely responsible for anomalously high levels of observed primary productivity by resupplying nutrients to the euphotic zone. Measurements made on the shelf within the recently upwelled water reveal that primary production (PP) of 8.2 gC/m-2 day-1 was supported by nitrate concentrations (NC) of 8 mmol m-3. Towards the front that defined the edge of the filament containing the upwelled water as it was transported offshore, PP dropped to 1.6 gC m-2 day-1 whilst NC dropped to 5.5 mmol m-3. Thus, whilst the observed nutrients on the shelf accounted for 90% of new production, this value dropped to ∼60% near the filament's front after accounting for vertical turbulent fluxes and Ekman pumping. We demonstrate that the N15 was likely to have been supplied at the front by submesoscale circulations that were directly measured as intense vertical velocities ⩾100 m day-1 by a drifting acoustic Doppler current profiler that crossed a submesoscale surface temperature front. At the same time, a recently released tracer was subducted out of the mixed layer within 24 h of release, providing direct evidence that the frontal circulations were capable of accessing the reservoir of nutrients beneath the pycnocline. The susceptibility of the filament edge to submesoscale instabilities was demonstrated by O(1) Rossby numbers at horizontal scales of 1-10 km. The frontal circulations are consistent with instabilities arising from a wind-driven nonlinear Ekman buoyancy flux generated by the persistent northerly wind stress that has a down-front component at the northern edge of the inshore section of the filament. The prevalence of submesoscale instabilities and their associated vertical circulations are proposed to be a key mechanism operating at sub-grid scales and sustaining new production throughout the upwelling

On the semi-diagnostic computation of climatological circulation in the western tropical Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shaji, C.; Rao, A.D.; Dube, S.K.; Bahulayan, N.

and internal density field on the dynamical balance of circulation in the western tropical Indian Ocean is explained. The climatological temperature and salinity data used to drive the model is found to be hydrodynamically adjusted with surface wind, flow field...

Wind energy barometer - EurObserv'ER - February 2016

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-02-01

The spectacular rise of China's wind power market that resulted in connecting at least 30.5 GW, catapulted the global installation level to 62.7 GW in 2015- a 22% more than in 2014. The US and German markets also performed very well, the former because its tax credit mechanism remained in force and the latter because many of its offshore wind farms in the North Sea were connected to the grid. Global wind turbine capacity has increased by 17% and now stands at 432.6 GW

Numerical Modelling Approaches for Assessing Improvements to the Flow Circulation in a Small Lake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng He

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Kamaniskeg Lake is a long, narrow, and deep small lake located in the northern part of Ontario, Canada. The goals of this paper were to examine various options to improve the water quality in the northern part of the lake by altering the local hydraulic flow conditions. Towards this end, a preliminary screening suggested that the flow circulation could be increased around a central island (Mask Island in the northern part of the lake by opening up an existing causeway connecting the mainland and central island. Three-dimensional (3D hydraulic and transport models were adopted in this paper to investigate the hydraulic conditions under various wind forces and causeway structures. The modelling results show that opening the causeway in a few places is unlikely to generate a large flow circulation around the central island. Full circulation only appears to be possible if the causeway is fully removed and a strong wind blows in a favourable direction. The possible reasons for existing water quality variations at the intake of a local WTP (water treatment plant are also explored in the paper.

The Physics of Wind-Fed Accretion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mauche, Christopher W.; Liedahl, Duane A.; Akiyama, Shizuka; Plewa, Tomasz

2008-01-01

We provide a brief review of the physical processes behind the radiative driving of the winds of OB stars and the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton capture and accretion of a fraction of the stellar wind by a compact object, typically a neutron star, in detached high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). In addition, we describe a program to develop global models of the radiatively-driven photoionized winds and accretion flows of HMXBs, with particular attention to the prototypical system Vela X-l. The models combine XSTAR photoionization calculations, HULLAC emission models appropriate to X-ray photoionized plasmas, improved models of the radiative driving of photoionized winds, FLASH time-dependent adaptive-mesh hydrodynamics calculations, and Monte Carlo radiation transport. We present two- and three-dimensional maps of the density, temperature, velocity, ionization parameter, and emissivity distributions of representative X-ray emission lines, as well as synthetic global Monte Carlo X-ray spectra. Such models help to better constrain the properties of the winds of HMXBs, which bear on such fundamental questions as the long-term evolution of these binaries and the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium.

Fueling export production: nutrient return pathways from the deep ocean and their dependence on the Meridional Overturning Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Palter, J. B.; Sarmiento, J. L.; Gnanadesikan, A.; Simeon, J.; Slater, R. D.

2010-11-01

In the Southern Ocean, mixing and upwelling in the presence of heat and freshwater surface fluxes transform subpycnocline water to lighter densities as part of the upward branch of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC). One hypothesized impact of this transformation is the restoration of nutrients to the global pycnocline, without which biological productivity at low latitudes would be significantly reduced. Here we use a novel set of modeling experiments to explore the causes and consequences of the Southern Ocean nutrient return pathway. Specifically, we quantify the contribution to global productivity of nutrients that rise from the ocean interior in the Southern Ocean, the northern high latitudes, and by mixing across the low latitude pycnocline. In addition, we evaluate how the strength of the Southern Ocean winds and the parameterizations of subgridscale processes change the dominant nutrient return pathways in the ocean. Our results suggest that nutrients upwelled from the deep ocean in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and subducted in Subantartic Mode Water support between 33 and 75% of global export production between 30° S and 30° N. The high end of this range results from an ocean model in which the MOC is driven primarily by wind-induced Southern Ocean upwelling, a configuration favored due to its fidelity to tracer data, while the low end results from an MOC driven by high diapycnal diffusivity in the pycnocline. In all models, nutrients exported in the SAMW layer are utilized and converted rapidly (in less than 40 years) to remineralized nutrients, explaining previous modeling results that showed little influence of the drawdown of SAMW surface nutrients on atmospheric carbon concentrations.

Fueling export production: nutrient return pathways from the deep ocean and their dependence on the Meridional Overturning Circulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. B. Palter

2010-11-01

Full Text Available In the Southern Ocean, mixing and upwelling in the presence of heat and freshwater surface fluxes transform subpycnocline water to lighter densities as part of the upward branch of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC. One hypothesized impact of this transformation is the restoration of nutrients to the global pycnocline, without which biological productivity at low latitudes would be significantly reduced. Here we use a novel set of modeling experiments to explore the causes and consequences of the Southern Ocean nutrient return pathway. Specifically, we quantify the contribution to global productivity of nutrients that rise from the ocean interior in the Southern Ocean, the northern high latitudes, and by mixing across the low latitude pycnocline. In addition, we evaluate how the strength of the Southern Ocean winds and the parameterizations of subgridscale processes change the dominant nutrient return pathways in the ocean. Our results suggest that nutrients upwelled from the deep ocean in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and subducted in Subantartic Mode Water support between 33 and 75% of global export production between 30° S and 30° N. The high end of this range results from an ocean model in which the MOC is driven primarily by wind-induced Southern Ocean upwelling, a configuration favored due to its fidelity to tracer data, while the low end results from an MOC driven by high diapycnal diffusivity in the pycnocline. In all models, nutrients exported in the SAMW layer are utilized and converted rapidly (in less than 40 years to remineralized nutrients, explaining previous modeling results that showed little influence of the drawdown of SAMW surface nutrients on atmospheric carbon concentrations.

Fueling primary productivity: nutrient return pathways from the deep ocean and their dependence on the Meridional Overturning Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Palter, J. B.; Sarmiento, J. L.; Gnanadesikan, A.; Simeon, J.; Slater, D.

2010-06-01

In the Southern Ocean, mixing and upwelling in the presence of heat and freshwater surface fluxes transform subpycnocline water to lighter densities as part of the upward branch of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC). One hypothesized impact of this transformation is the restoration of nutrients to the global pycnocline, without which biological productivity at low latitudes would be catastrophically reduced. Here we use a novel set of modeling experiments to explore the causes and consequences of the Southern Ocean nutrient return pathway. Specifically, we quantify the contribution to global productivity of nutrients that rise from the ocean interior in the Southern Ocean, the northern high latitudes, and by mixing across the low latitude pycnocline. In addition, we evaluate how the strength of the Southern Ocean winds and the parameterizations of subgridscale processes change the dominant nutrient return pathways in the ocean. Our results suggest that nutrients upwelled from the deep ocean in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and subducted in Subantartic Mode Water support between 33 and 75% of global primary productivity between 30° S and 30° N. The high end of this range results from an ocean model in which the MOC is driven primarily by wind-induced Southern Ocean upwelling, a configuration favored due to its fidelity to tracer data, while the low end results from an MOC driven by high diapycnal diffusivity in the pycnocline. In all models, the high preformed nutrients subducted in the SAMW layer are converted rapidly (in less than 40 years) to remineralized nutrients, explaining previous modeling results that showed little influence of the drawdown of SAMW surface nutrients on atmospheric carbon concentrations.

Wind energy barometer - EurObserv'ER - February 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-02-01

The 2014 global wind energy market surged and set a new record after the previous year's slowdown. More than 52 GW of capacity was installed across the world compared to a little less than 37 GW in 2013. Global wind energy took a 41.4% leap in 2014 to culminate in more than 371 GW of installed capacity

Moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin and its response to North Atlantic cooling and global warming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Richter, Ingo [University of Hawaii at Manoa, International Pacific Research Center, Honolulu, HI (United States); Xie, Shang-Ping [University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Meteorology, Honolulu, HI (United States)

2010-08-15

Atmospheric moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin plays an important role in regulating North Atlantic salinity and thus the strength of the thermohaline circulation. Potential changes in the strength of this moisture transport are investigated for two different climate-change scenarios: North Atlantic cooling representative of Heinrich events, and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing. The effect of North Atlantic cooling is studied using a coupled regional model with comparatively high resolution that successfully simulates Central American gap winds and other important aspects of the region. Cooler North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) in this model leads to a regional decrease of atmospheric moisture but also to an increase in wind speed across Central America via an anomalous pressure gradient. The latter effect dominates, resulting in a 0.13 Sv (1 Sv = 10{sup 6} m{sup 3} s{sup -1}) increase in overall moisture transport to the Pacific basin. In fresh water forcing simulations with four different general circulation models, the wind speed effect is also present but not strong enough to completely offset the effect of moisture decrease except in one model. The influence of GHG forcing is studied using simulations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change archive. In these simulations atmospheric moisture increases globally, resulting in an increase of moisture transport by 0.25 Sv from the Atlantic to Pacific. Thus, in both scenarios, moisture transport changes act to stabilize the thermohaline circulation. The notion that the Andes effectively block moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin is not supported by the simulations and atmospheric reanalyses examined here. This indicates that such a blocking effect does not exist or else that higher resolution is needed to adequately represent the steep orography of the Andes. (orig.)

Harnessing wind power with sustained policy support

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meera, L. [BITS-Pilani. Dept. of Economics, Hyderabad (India)

2012-07-01

The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. The ''Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA)'' has played a leading role in promoting wind energy in India. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, a combination of domestic policy support for wind power and the rise of Suzlon (a leading global wind turbine manufacturer) have led India to become the country with the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world. Wind power accounts for 6% of India's total installed power capacity, and it generates 1.6% of the country's power. (Author)

Wind energy in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, L.C.

1992-01-01

Wind energy should be an important part of the energy supply mix, both at home and abroad, to provide cleaner air and a more stable fuel supply. Not only can wind energy contribute to solving complex global issues, it also can provide a large market for American technological leadership. Even though utilities are paying more attention to wind in a number of states, there are no plans for major installations of wind power plants in the United States. At the same time, European nations have developed aggressive wind energy development programs, including both ambitious research and development efforts and market incentives. Many countries recognize the importance of the clean energy provided by wind technology and are taking steps to promote their fledgling domestic industries. The emphasis on market incentives is starting to pay off. In 1991, European utilities and developers installed nearly twice as much wind capacity as Americans did. In 1992 the gap will be even greater. This article reviews aggressive incentives offered by European governments to boost their domestic wind industries at home and abroad in this almost $1 billion per year market. By offering substantial incentives - considerably more than the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is proposing - European nations are ensuring dramatic near-term wind energy development and are taking a major step toward dominating the international wind industry of the 21st century

Regional Analysis of Long-term Local and Synoptic Effects on Wind Velocity and Energy Patterns in Complex Terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Belu, R.; Koracin, D. R.

2017-12-01

Investments in renewable energy are justified in both environmental and economic terms. Climate change risks call for mitigation strategies aimed to reduce pollutant emissions, while the energy supply is facing high uncertainty by the current or future global economic and political contexts. Wind energy is playing a strategic role in the efforts of any country for sustainable development and energy supply security. Wind energy is a weather and climate-dependent resource, having a natural spatio-temporal variability at time scales ranging from fraction of seconds to seasons and years, while at spatial scales is strongly affected by the topography and vegetation. Main objective of the study is to investigate spatio-temporal characteristics of the wind velocity in the Southwest U.S., that are relevant to wind energy assessment, analysis, development, operation, and grid integration, by using long-term multiple meteorological tower observations. Wind velocity data and other meteorological parameters from five towers, located near Tonopah, Nevada, operated between 2003 to 2008, and from three towers are located in Carson Valley, Nevada, operated between 2006 and 2014 were used in this study. Multi-annual wind speed data collected did not show significant increase trends with increasing elevation; the differences are mainly governed by the topographic complexity, including local atmospheric circulations. Auto- and cross-correlations show a strong coherence between the wind speed and direction with slowly decreasing amplitude of the multi-day periodicity with increasing lag periods. Besides pronounced diurnal periodicity at all locations, detrended fluctuation analysis also showed significant seasonal and annual periodicities, and long-memory persistence with similar characteristics. In spite of significant differences in mean wind speeds among the towers, due to location specifics, the relatively high auto- and cross-correlation coefficients among the towers indicate

In Search of the Wind Energy Potential