Video provided by University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
NCAR is developing and applying several weather model and statistical processing technologies to improve the prediction of wind for the wind energy industry. Wind is among the most difficult weather variables to forecast. A number of factors can affect it, such as topography, ground cover, temperature inversions, and even the state of the vegetation at ans around the wind farms. NCAR's task is especially challenging because researchers will try to pinpoint wind direction and strength in the vicinity of individual wind turbines, which are generally about 200 to 400 feet above the ground and arrayed in wind farms.