Complementary use of wind lidars and land-based met-masts for wind measurements in a wide fjord

Abstract

Wind velocity data recorded on the shores of a wide fjord (Bjørnafjord, Norway) by sonic anemometers mounted on met-masts are compared with those obtained using synchronized long-range lidar instruments. The goal is to know to what extent measurements from land-based met-mast are representative of the wind conditions in the middle of the fjord. The lidar data shows a good agreement with the anemometer records for a limited number of sectors only, indicating a significant influence of the topography on the data obtained on the met-masts. For a north-northwest wind, which was the dominant wind direction during the measurement period, the influence of the local topography on the estimated turbulence characteristics may not be negligible for three of the four masts deployed. This implies that the combined use of remote sensing technology and land-based sensors may be necessary to characterize the wind conditions in a wide fjord.