Abstract
Our research team engaged in the validation of a Laser Wind Sensor (LWS) unit scheduled for later deployment in Lake Michigan. This was done through comparison with wind speed measurements made by anemometer cups mounted on a traditional meteorological tower on land against those made by the LWS mounted on a flowing platform in Muskegon Lake about 423m away. Because these two gauges are not co-located and may not always be measuring the same wind, the paired-t method was employed to study the series of differences in wind speed measurements with differences less than 0.1 m/s the considered to be not operationally significant. Wind speed was measured each second and ten-minute averages computed and used in the analysis. The average differences for wind speed less than 6.7 m/s at the cup anemometers were found to be not operationally significant. The same result was obtained for higher wind speeds not during storms. Data from storm periods is still under study. A prior study comparing two other LWS units, one land mounted and the other on the same type of floating buoy platform, was extended using the paired-t methods. Results confirmed that the only differences in 10-minutes average occurred during periods of different wind direction at the two gauges validating the motion compensation features of the Laser Wind Sensor unit. The buoy was deployed at Lake Michigan’s mid-lake plateau, 35 miles from shore in 45 m of water, for the 2012 field season. Analysis of those data is ongoing.
ScholarWorks Citation
Standridge, Charles R. Ph.D.; Zeitler, David Ph.D.; Nieves, Yeni; Turnage, T.J.; and Nordman, Erik Edward Ph.D., "Validation of a buoy-mounted laser wind sensor and deployment in Lake Michigan" (2012). Reports. 1.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/windreports/1
