Profiles of Wind and Turbulence in the Coastal Atmospheric Boundary Layer of Lake Erie

Abstract

Prediction of wind resource in coastal zones is difficult due to the complexity of flow in the coastal atmospheric boundary layer (CABL). A three week campaign was conducted over Lake Erie in May 2013 to investigate wind characteristics and improve model parameterizations in the CABL. Vertical profiles of wind speed up to 200 m were measured onshore and offshore by lidar wind profilers, and horizontal gradients of wind speed by a 3-D scanning lidar. Turbulence data were collected from sonic anemometers deployed onshore and offshore. Numerical simulations were conducted with the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model with 2 nested domains down to a resolution of 1-km over the lake. Initial data analyses presented in this paper investigate complex flow patterns across the coast. Acceleration was observed up to 200 m above the surface for flow coming from the land to the water. However, by 7 km off the coast the wind field had not yet reached equilibrium with the new surface (water) conditions. The surface turbulence parameters over the water derived from the sonic data could not predict wind profiles observed by the ZephlR lidar located offshore. Horizontal wind speed gradients near the coast show the influence of atmospheric stability on flow dynamics. Wind profiles retrieved from the 3-D scanning lidar show evidence of nocturnal low level jets (LLJs). The WRF model was able to capture the occurrence of LLJ events, but its performance varied in predicting their intensity, duration, and the location of the jet core.