Researchers Using Offshore Buoy To Study Wind Resource In The Great Lakes

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Catch the Wind Ltd., a provider of laser-based wind sensor products and technology, says the deployment of its Vindicator Laser Wind Sensor (LWS) in AXYS Technologies Inc.'s WindSentinel offshore wind buoy in Lake Michigan has produced valuable information about the wind resource in that area.

The LWS is currently providing wind profile information from the Great Lakes to wind-resource researchers and analysts at Grand Valley State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

After 45 days of testing on Lake Michigan, Dr. Guy Meadows, director of the Ocean Engineering Laboratory's Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan, said that this was the first time the researchers had actual data of the detailed vertical structure of the marine boundary layer over any of the Great Lakes, and that this buoy had provided a data set that will be useful in forecasting wind and wave circulation across the lakes.


"Especially valuable was the turbulence data during the approach of severe storms and fronts," Meadows said, adding that there was "amazing correlation between the buoy data and the National Weather Service and Environmental Research Laboratory models."

Testing and data correlation will continue throughout the winter, with additional deployments scheduled for the spring, Catch the Wind says.

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