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High-Performance Computing Resources Aid in Study
of the U.S. Surface Wind Field
Whether blowing hot or cool, wind affects
everything from the day’s weather to how we generate electricity. Wind speed is used
to evaluate wind power potential, wind direction is a factor in bird and insect migration,
and wind velocity is important for determining pollutant transport and dispersion.
Professor Katherine Klink of the Department of Geography is using supercomputing
resources to aid in the study of this fundamental climatic variable. Analysis of
the U.S. wind data series benefits greatly from the computing resources available
through the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. Dedicated disk storage,
routine tape access, and most importantly, the faster processors of the supercomputers
have aided this research substantially.
Wind is related to surface temperature and pressure patterns and is routinely reported
by weather observers. Empirically based studies of climatic variability have focused
primarily on surface temperature and precipitation records. However wind analyses
have been less common, due in part to the fact that because it is a vector variable,
slightly modified statistical methods are needed for its analysis.
Klink uses hourly and three-hourly wind speed and direction observations from 1961-1990
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1993) to derive a monthly climatology of the
mean surface wind field at 216 stations in the contiguous United States. The original
wind speed measurements are corrected to a standard 20 foot observation height using
the 1/7 power law (Peterson and Hennessey 1978). From the height-corrected data Klink
computes the mean monthly wind speed, direction, and velocity at each station for
each of the 30 years. This 30-year time series is used to estimate the climatological
mean of each field, along with their variances.
This study has several objectives. The first is to complement existing temperature
and precipitation climatologies by compiling a spatially representative climatology
of terrestrial surface winds within the United States. Klink also intends to examine
the time series to determine if there exists any temporal trends in wind characteristics
that can be related to temperature trends reported in the literature. Once the wind
climatology and time series records are complete, she will be able to more closely
examine the spatial and temporal characteristics of the diurnal wind speed record
and, in collaboration with Geography Ph.D. student Kevin Lawless, compare it to the
diurnal patterns in energy demand. It may then be possible to evaluate more carefully
the economic feasibility of particular wind turbine sites.
Professor Klink's current work also includes a study of Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions
over Regional Climate Scales. Supercomputing resources also play a significant role
in this related area of study.
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