Suitability of power-law extrapolation for wind speed estimation on a tropical island

Abstract

In this study, the ability of the power-law wind model to reproduce a tropical vertical wind profile is investigated. Data from a one-year observation on an offshore island of Singapore, obtained using a lidar, are used to show that the power-law model profiles are unable to capture the pertinent features of the observed wind profiles. Two alternative profile models, one based on the free convection limit scaling and the other based on the arctangent function, are introduced and tested. The latter model, although lacking physical basis, is found to be superior in predicting the measured profiles. A systematic study of the seasonal and diurnal variations of the model parameters is presented and some practical implications of the results are also discussed