July 09, 2008
PASADENA, Calif. - Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth's
ocean winds could soon gain an important new tool: global satellite
maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a
decade of data from NASA's QuikScat satellite that reveal ocean areas
where winds could produce energy.
The new maps have many potential uses including planning the location
of offshore wind farms to convert wind energy into electric energy. The
research, published this week in Geophysical Research Letters, was funded
by NASA's Earth Science Division, which works to advance the frontiers of
scientific discovery about Earth, its climate and its future.
"Wind energy is environmentally friendly. After the initial energy investment
to build and install wind turbines, you don't burn fossil fuels that emit carbon,"
said study lead author Tim Liu, a senior research scientist and QuikScat science
team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Like solar
power, wind energy is green energy."
QuikScat, launched in 1999, tracks the speed, direction and power of winds near
the ocean surface. Data from QuikScat, collected continuously by a specialized
microwave radar instrument named SeaWinds, also are used to predict storms and
enhance the accuracy of weather forecasts.
Wind energy has the potential to provide 10 to 15 percent of future world energy requirements, according to Paul Dimotakis, chief technologist at JPL. If ocean areas with high winds were tapped for wind energy, they could potentially harvest up to 500 to 800 watts of wind power per square meter, according to Liu's research. Dimotakis notes that while this is less than peak solar power, which is about 1000 watts per square meter on Earth's surface when the sky is clear and the sun is overhead at equatorial locations, the average solar power at Earth's mid-latitudes under clear-sky conditions is less than a third of that. Wind power can be converted to electricity more efficiently than solar power and at a lower cost per watt of electricity produced.
According to Liu, new technology has made floating wind farms in the open ocean
possible. A number of wind farms are already in operation worldwide. Ocean wind
farms have less environmental impact than onshore wind farms, whose noise tends to
disturb sensitive wildlife in their immediate area. Also, winds are generally stronger
over the ocean than on land because there is less friction over water to slow the winds
down -- there are no hills or mountains to block the wind's path.
Ideally, offshore wind farms should be located in areas where winds blow continuously
at high speeds. The new research identifies such areas and offers explanations for the
physical mechanisms that produce the high winds.
An example of one such high-wind mechanism is located off the coast of Northern
California near Cape Mendocino. The protruding land mass of the cape deflects northerly
winds along the California coast, creating a local wind jet that blows year-round. Similar
jets are formed from westerly winds blowing around Tasmania, New Zealand and Tierra del
Fuego in South America, among other locations. Areas with large-scale, high wind power
potential also can be found in regions of the mid-latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, where winter storms normally track.
The new QuikScat maps, which add to previous generations of QuikScat wind atlases, also
will be beneficial to the shipping industry by highlighting areas of the ocean where high
winds could be hazardous to ships, allowing them to steer clear of these areas.
Scientists use the QuikScat data to examine how ocean winds affect weather and climate, by
driving ocean currents, mixing ocean waters and affecting the carbon, heat and water interaction
between the ocean and the atmosphere. JPL manages QuikScat for NASA. For more information
about QuikScat, visit: http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov .
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov .
Media contacts: Alan Buis/Diya Chacko 818-354-0474/393-5464
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov, diya.s.chacko@jpl.nasa.gov
Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
2008-128