Wind regime in Serra do Mar Ridge-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship of wind regime in the meteorological stations of Duque de Caxias (A603) and Petrópolis (A610) located at the base and at the top of Serra do Mar ridge-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. WRPLOT was used in the elaboration of wind roses and histograms. Wind persistence was calculated and the wind direction boxplot was done vs. the number of rainy days (NRD) in both seasons. In general, the sequence test indicates that the annual and monthly wind series are random and are within the normal range. The predominance of SSE (36.22%) winds was identified in A603, followed by SE (24.98%) and S (18.71%) winds, with wind intensity ranging mainly between light air (8,80%) e light breeze (3,90%) wind regimes. The wind predominance on A610 station was WSW (21.57%), NW (17.53%), WNW (10.81%) and NNW (7.66%), with variable wind speed classes and no calm winds. The correlation between the cardinal directions at each station with the NRD showed that the station A603 registered the directions SSE, S and SE, due to the barrier effect generated by the S/SW face (windward) of Serra do Mar ridge, while the A610 station recorded associated rainfall with wind directions NW, WNW and WSW.