Vaisala Energy Support
What is the source of the information?
The Wind Prospecting Tools are based on the latest scientific techniques, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, and publicly available observations from meteorological towers worldwide. The computer simulations and the 5 km global wind dataset were developed by 3TIER.
3TIER has validated the annual wind speed range displayed by the Annual Mean Wind Speed tool using data from the NCEP-ADP network.
Find our validation papers here.
The wind speed map over ocean areas is based on satellite measurements from the Scatterometer Climatology of Ocean Winds (SCOW) developed at Oregon State University (OSU). This effort was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through an award to the OSU Cooperative Institute of Oceanographic Satellite Studies (CIOSS). The map's climatology is based on 8 years of surface wind measurements from the NASA QuikSCAT scatterometer developed and operated by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
More Wind Online Tools Questions
- Which Wind Time Series dataset should I choose?
- How do I enter a location?
- How do I interpret the graph provided by the Monthly Mean Wind Speed Tool?
- What does the Annual Mean Wind Speed Tool provide?
- How do I interpret the wind rose provided by the Annual Mean Wind Rose Tool?
- What does the Wind Speed Distribution Tool provide?
- Why do we show a +/- next to the annual value?
- What wind speeds are shown on the map?
- How can I compare sites side-by-side?
- What affects wind at a given site?
- What is a hub height?
- How do I change locations for individual tools?
- What makes a good wind resource?
- What do the colors on the map mean?
- How accurate are the Wind Prospecting Tools?
- Why does the map disappear?
- How was the 5 km global wind dataset created?
- Does 3TIER incorporate observational data?
- What were 3TIER's data validation procedures for the 5 km global wind dataset?
- What happened to 3TIER’s Reference Wind Time Series Product?
- Why do all the various datasets have different start and end times?
- Doesn’t horizontal resolution matter? What about downscaling with weather models like WRF and MM5?
- Why are the long-term mean values of each data set so similar and why don’t they match the values I get when I download these data directly from the various global modeling centers?
If you didn't find what you were looking for, please contact 3TIER Support for additional assistance.