An empirical statistical model is developed that relates the non-tidal motion of the ocean surface currents off the Oregon coast to forecasts of the coastal winds. The empirical statistical model is then used to produce predictions of the surface currents that are evaluated for their agreement with measured currents. Measurements...
The importance of wind-driven latent heat fluxes for supporting tropical intraseasonal precipitation variability is analyzed. Tropical
intraseasonal variability in the west pacific and Indian ocean is analyzed for northern and southern hemisphere summer during 1999-2005 using
satellite and buoy observations. A composite analysis of QuikSCAT ocean vector winds and TRMM...
The natural fall of trees in riparian areas is an important source of coarse woody debris for mountain streams, improving fish habitat and influencing stream morphology. Existing models consider the probability of coarse woody debris entering a stream channel based upon trees having a random direction of fall without consideration...
In the year 2007, the worldwide energy consumption accumulated to a total of 16.5 billion MWh. While the resources of conventional energy production cause environmental damage, renewable energy sources like solar or wind power offer a solution to substitute for coal or nuclear generated power. Countries like Denmark and Spain...
Modern wind energy is the technology of choice with a short payback period for increasing renewable energy portfolios. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a United States power authority in the Pacific Northwest expects to increase their wind energy capacity from 2,000 megawatts to 6,000 megawatts within the next five years. Currently...
As more wind farms are connected to the grid, the variable nature of wind energy begins to influence grid stability. Energy storage could help smooth the variable nature of wind energy. Laboratory demonstration and exploration of the interaction between different energy storage devices and wind energy could help improve and...
A satellite-derived Climatology of Global Ocean Winds (COGOW) on a 0.5° latitude by 0.5° latitude grid is presented based on 5-years (August 1999 July 2004) of measurements from the SeaWinds scatterometer that was launched on 19 June 1999 onboard the QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is an active microwave radar that estimates...
The fast growth of wind energy utilization has necessitated research into wind energy integration. Due to the variable nature of wind and the forecasting challenges, it is desirable to utilize wind energy alongside energy storage sources for reliable wind energy integration. This work details the design of a 25 kW...
The number of wind turbines and wind farms in the Pacific Northwest has increased dramatically in the past six years, which represents a significant amount of electrical generation capacity connected to the public electric grid. However, the variable nature of wind sometimes introduces excessive power, or conversely shortages, in power...