Abstract
Abstract. In this paper, surface wind speed and average wind power derived from Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Level 2 Ocean (OCN) product were validated against four weather buoys and three coastal weather stations around Ireland. A total of 1544 match-up points was obtained over a 2-year period running from May 2017 to May 2019. The match-up comparison showed that the satellite data underestimated the wind speed compared to in situ devices, with an average bias of 0.4 m s−1, which decreased linearly as a function of average wind speed. Long-term statistics using all the available data, while assuming a Weibull law for the wind speed, were also produced and resulted in a significant reduction of the bias. Additionally, the average wind power was found to be consistent with in situ data, resulting in an error of 10 % and 5 % for weather buoys and coastal stations, respectively. These results show that the Sentinel-1 Level 2 OCN product can be used to estimate the wind resource distribution, even in coastal areas. Maps of the average and seasonal wind speed and wind power illustrated that the error was spatially dependent, which should be taken into consideration when working with Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar data.
Highlights
With the ever-increasing interest in offshore wind energy, the estimation of the available wind energy over large offshore areas has become necessary
Measurements from the Sentinel-1 Level 2 OCN product were compared with measurements from four weather buoys and three coastal weather stations located around Ireland
The match-up comparison indicated that the satellites underestimated the in situ data by 0.4 m s−1 on average, with an root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 1.45 m s−1
Summary
With the ever-increasing interest in offshore wind energy, the estimation of the available wind energy over large offshore areas has become necessary. The Sentinel-1 A and B Level 2 Ocean (OCN) product produced by the European Space Agency (ESA) was validated This product, derived from SAR observations, provides measurement of neutral surface wind speed and direction at 10 m a.s.l. (above sea level) with a grid spacing of 1 km2 Even though this type of analysis was previously performed in other parts of Europe (Hasager et al, 2015), it has never been conducted using both marine and coastal in situ measurements at a national scale in Ireland, which has a significant offshore wind resource First the satellite product and the study area are introduced, the methodology is provided, and the results are presented and discussed
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