2nd Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2)
The second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) was a public-private partnership funded by the Department of Energy and NOAA with the goal of improving numerical weather prediction model forecast skill for turbine-height winds in regions with complex terrain.
Activities
A core element of WFIP2 was an 18-month field deployment located in the Pacific Northwest. Instrument deployment started fall 2015 and focused on the Columbia River Gorge and Columbia Basin in eastern Oregon and Washington states.
The approach taken was to collect an extensive set of new meteorological observations, especially within the atmospheric boundary layer and use these to observe and understand relevant atmospheric processes. This work then led to the development and testing of new model physical parameterization schemes. These improved models were ultimately transferred to NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) operations and to the wider meteorological and wind energy communities.
Maps of Study Area:
Observing Systems
- 11 Wind Profiling Radars
- 17 Sodars
- 5 Wind Profiling Lidars
- 4 Microwave Radiometers
- 4 Scanning Lidars, Including a Long-Range Wind Tracer Lidar
- Ceilometer
- 10 Microbarographs
- 28 Sonic Anemometers
- Surface Met And Solar Radiation Networks
Science Issues
- Gap flows
- Mountain waves and mountain wakes
- Convective storm outflows
- The mix-out of stable cold pools
- Marine pushes
- Boundary layer turbulence profiling
Models
Numerical models used for WFIP2 were WRF-based models including the NOAA RAP (Rapid Refresh) and High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), as well as the North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM). The 13 km RAP and 3 km HRRR are run operationally at NWS, while experimental versions of both were run at the NOAA Global Systems Laboratory using new physical parameterizations. In addition, a 750m nest of the HRRR was run at Argonne National Laboratory.
Outcome
The dataset collected by WFIP2 observations in complex terrain led to significant improvements in the HRRR. The project also highlighted how challenging material improvements to model physical parameterizations can be. An overview of WFIP2, a description of the data collected during WFIP2 and its analysis, as well details on the model improvements are outlined in:
Wilczak, J. M., and Coauthors (2019): The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2): Observational Field Campaign. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 100, 1701–1723, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0035.1 .
Olson, J.B., J.S. Kenyon, I. Djalalova, L. Bianco, D.D. Turner, Y. Pichugina, A. Choukulkar, M.D. Toy, J.M. Brown, W.M. Angevine, E. Akish, J.-W. Bao, P. Jimenez, B. Kosovic, K.A. Lundquist, C. Draxl, J. K.Lundquist, J. McCaa, K. McCaffrey, K. Lantz, C. Long, J. Wilczak, R. Banta, M. Marquis, S. Redfern, L.K. Berg, W. Shaw, and J. Cline (2019): Improving Wind Energy Forecasting through Numerical Weather Prediction Model Development, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,100, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0040.1
Building off of the work of WFIP and WFIP2, a 3rd Wind Improvement Project (WFIP3) is now underway on and off the southern New England coast to gain better understanding of renewable energy conditions offshore. WFIP3 launched in early 2024 and is expected to run until fall 2025.