WHOI_MetOcean

WHOI MetOcean Data Initiative

This data was collected by Kirincich and Cinquino as part of a Metocean monitoring campaign sponsored initially by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and presently by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC). The campaign was designed to observe key atmospheric and ocean parameters at an existing offshore platform in the proximity of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Wind Energy Areas. The campaign supported the purchase and installation of a LIDAR wind profiler, two cup anemometers and a wind direction vane at the MVCO Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT). These instruments were installed and operated by WHOI and validated by UL-AWS Truepower following a MetOcean Measurement Plan created by UL-AWST, WHOI, and the MassCEC. All instruments were installed on WHOI's offshore tower in the fall of 2016 and operated continuously, as possible, through the end of 2020. After this time the project transitioned to become the MetOcean Reference Site (MORS-1), supported by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC). In fall 2021, a second UL-AWS Truepower validated LIDAR wind profiler was purchased and installed at WHOI's offshore tower. After a validation period, the original lidar was moved to a secondary land based site in Nantucket, MA. Please see WHOI_MetOcean_Nantucket for the Nantucket data: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/29667.

LEOSPHERE WINDCUBE v2 was acquired from NRG Systems and deployed at WHOI's Air Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT). The WINDCUBE instrument is an industry approved LIDAR system for use in Wind Energy Resource Characterization studies. The choice of sensor was made in consultation with UL-AWS Truepower, the wind energy consultant advising MassCEC on its MetOcean Initiative. The lidar, serial number WLS7-436, was a leased model owned by NRG, the U.S. distributor for Leosphere. The instrument was installed at the platform level of the tower along an existing walkway that extends to the southwest, into the prevailing summer time wind direction relative to the center of the tower structure. The lidar connects directly to the ASIT's power and communications systems. Two separate deployments of the lidar were made as part of the study period. The first deployment spanned Oct. 7, 2016 to Dec. 28, 2018. The second deployment spanned Oct. 20, 2019 to Oct. 7, 2021. During the campaign period, the lidar was validated three times by NRG and once against an approved Tall Tower (see validation information). In 2021, a second wind profiling lidar was acquired from NRG Systems. After discussion with wind industry professionals and manufacturers, the decision was made to purchase a Zephir Ltd. ZX 300M Lidar. This lidar was tall tower validated (see validation information), and then deployed at the ASIT, next to the existing Leosphere Windcube. After a comparison period (see comparison report), the Windcube was relocated to a secondary land based site in Nantucket, MA. Data from both instruments is included in this repository. One deployment of the metocean sensors on the ASIT was made, spanning Nov. 2016 to present. Data from the two cup anemometers (at 26m amsl) and single wind direction vane (at 23m amsl) were combined with additional sensor data of air temperature, pressure, and Relative humidity (at 18m amsl) and ocean temperature and salinity (at 4m bmsl). These additional data were collected by various sensors and were maintained by WHOI or other ASIT users. Commissioning reports for both of the lidar deployments and the metocean sensors are included as part of this repository. See below or the commissioning reports for details of the sensors and sensor orientations, which differed between deployments.

Authors: Anthony Kirincich and Eve Cinquino

Citable URI:https://hdl.handle.net/1912/27014

DOI: 10.26025/1912/27014

The following data and metadata is available for download below:

• Validation reports from a tall tower validation that was performed in August-September 2019.
• Validation reports from a tall tower validation that was performed in May-July 2021.
• Meteorological Tower Summary Data: Daily 10-minute average files of wind speed (23m amsl), wind direction (26m amsl), temperature, pressure, and relative humidity (18m amsl) and ocean temperature and salinity (4m bmsl).
• Meteorological Tower Metadata: Metadata containing file headers, sensor information, and documentation of repairs.
• Realtime, combined Lidar and Meteorological Tower Data, Quality Controlled and reformatted by AWS/UL: These data are the result of realtime data collection of files transmitted daily to AWS/UL, who performed QC analyses of the data and combined all data into a single *.xls file for each deployment month.

MetOcean monitoring plan 2016
Wind resource site commissioning form 2016

Lidar Summary Data: Daily 10-minute average files from 53-200m amsl (daily files in the Leosphere WindCube files in .sta format)

• 2016 (2.25Mb)
• 2017 (10.63Mb)
• 2018 (8.902Mb)
• 2019 (2.076Mb)
• 2020 (7.713Mb)
• 2021 (21.628Mb)
• 2022 (39.78Mb)
• 2023 (155.948Mb)
• 2024 (143.29Mb)

Lidar Raw Data: Raw 10-minute files of 1 Hz data files from 53-200m amsl (served in quarterly zipped files)

• October-December 2016 (978.3Mb)
• January-March 2017 (1.037Gb)
• April-June 2017 (1.020Gb)
• July-September 2017 (930.2Mb)
• October-December 2017 (998.2Mb)
• January-March 2018 (968.3Mb)
• April-June 2018 (862.5Mb)
• July-September 2018 (842.9Mb)
• October-December 2018 (990.4Mb)
• No files are present for January 2019 - September 2019
• October-December 2019 (915.3Mb)
• January-March 2020 (1.112Gb)
• April-June 2020 (995.1Mb)
• July-September 2020 (625.2Mb)
• October-December 2020 (1.17Gb)
• January-March 2021 (1.016Gb)
• April-June 2021 (985.3Mb)
• July-September 2021 (1.027Gb)
• October-December 2021 (4.082Mb)
• January-March 2022 (259.6Mb)
• April-June 2022 (298.18Mb)
• July-September 2022 (300.08Mb)
• October-December 2022 (308.44Mb)
• January-March 2023 (656.6Mb)
• April-June 2023 (731.41Mb)
• July-September 2023 (814.8Mb)
• October-December 2023 (636.93Mb)
• January-March 2024 (1.08 GB)
• April-June 2024 (1001.64Mb)
• July-September 2024 (1.05GB)
• October-December 2024 (817.47Mb)

Lidar Metadata and Validation Reports

• Lidar Metadata 2024
• Lidar Metadata 2021
• Calibration Report of LiDAR unit WLS7-436
• Calibration Report of LiDAR unit ZX1166
• Commissioning form: Windcube V2 WLS7-436 WHOI ASIT Tower
• Commissioning form: Windcube Lidar WHOI ASIT Tower
• Commissioning form: Windcube Lidar WHOI ASIT Tower ZX300M 1166
• Validation report for August 2016
• Validation report for July 2019
• Validation report for July 2020
• Comparison Report between LiDAR unit WLS7-436 and LiDAR unit ZX1166

Meteorological Tower Summary Data (daily files in ascii text format)

• 2016 daily (9.596Mb)
• 2017 daily(11.08Mb))
• 2018 daily (10.88Mb)
• 2019 daily (8.595Mb)
• 2020 daily (10.96Mb)
• 2021 daily (11.18Mb)
• 2022 daily (9.799Mb))
• 2023 daily (10.4Mb)
• 2024 daily (11.24Mb)

Meteorological Tower Metadata and Summary Plots

• Meteorological Metadata 2024
• Meteorological Metadata 2021
• 2016 monthly summary (691Kb)
• 2017 monthly summary (1.312Mb)
• 2018 monthly summary (1.214Mb)
• 2019 monthly summary (856Kb)
• 2020 monthly summary (1.295Mb)
• 2021 monthly summary (1.338Mb)
• 2022 monthly summary (1.894Mb)
• 2023 monthly summary (2.214Mb)
• 2024 monthly summary (2.94Mb)

Combined Lidar and Meteorological Tower Data, quality controlled and reformatted by AWS/UL (files in .xls format)

• December 2016 (1.932Mb)
• January 2017 (2.126Mb)
• February 2017 (2.375Mb)
• March 2017 (2.510Mb)
• April 2017 (2.555Mb)
• May 2017 (2.680Mb)
• June 2017 (2.626Mb)
• July 2017 (2.686Mb)
• August 2017 (2.690Mb)
• September 2017 (2.536Mb))
• October 2017 (2.349Mb)
• November 2017 (2.356Mb)
• December 2017 (2.419Mb)
• January 2018 (2.351Mb)
• February 2018 (2.216Mb)
• March 2018 (2.265Mb)
• April 2018 (2.355Mb)
• May 2018 (2.454Mb)
• June 2018 (2.367Mb)
• July 2018 (2.413Mb)
• August 2018 (2.392Mb)
• September 2018 (2.236Mb)
• October 2018 (2.255Mb)
• November 2018 (2.190Mb)
• December 2018 (1.929Mb)