An analysis of fleet numerical oceanographic center winds on the grand banks

Abstract

Abstract An analysis is made of the errors in the wind field of the Fleet Numerical Océanographie Center (FNOC) over the northern Grand Banks. Observed wind data from an oil rig at the Bonanza site (47° 30'?, 48° 12 ‘ W) are comparedwith wind data obtainedfrom the grid prepared by FNOC. The resulting two time series are found to be strongly correlated at frequencies up to 0.5 cycles d−l (cpd). Most of the error in the FNOC wind field is observed at frequencies above 0.5 cpd. Discrepancies in direction between the two data sets occur most frequently at low wind speeds (less than 10ms−1). There is better agreement for wind direction in the winter than in the summer. Linear interpolation of the FNOC grid data yields the best regression with the observed wind. Wind observed at St John's shows no correlation with the observed wind on the northern Grand Banks.