Regional Wind-Field Study in Complex Terrain During Summer Sea-Breeze Conditions

摘要

A regional-scale data base, consisting of wind and temperature data for June and July of 1977, was developed for the greater San Francisco Bay Area and eastward to the Central Valley. Continuous meteorological measurements were made in the area of a windy pass (Patterson Pass) 3 km east of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. This area was chosen because of its complex terrain and importance as a downwind topographic feature affecting the dispersal of possible accidental atmospheric releases from the Laboratory and as an area of high wind-energy potential. The results of this study provided the following: (1) a data base, including over 50 stations for use in numerical wind-field regional-scale-model validation; (2) characterization of summer sea breese oscillations of approx. 6 and 12 days (this analysis is useful in calculating wind-power persistence and in understanding summer sea-breeze mechanisms in the Bay Area); and (3) successful application of an optical space-averaging wind sensor over a 1-km path across a pass to provide long-path averaged data more suitable for regional, numerical wind-field models with kilometre-size grid elements. (ERA citation 04:052136)