Underestimation of strong wind speeds offshore  in ERA5: evidence, discussion and correction

Gandoin, Rémi; Garza, Jorge

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1727-2024

Articles | Volume 9, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1727-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-1727-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 8

Research article

|

19 Aug 2024

Research article |

| 19 Aug 2024

Underestimation of strong wind speeds offshore in ERA5: evidence, discussion and correction

Rémi Gandoin and Jorge Garza

Data sets

Supplementary material to the Wind Energy Science article "Underestimation of strong wind speeds offshore in ERA5: evidence, discussion, and correction" Rémi Gandoin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11100768

Assessment of EOLOS FLS-200~E05 Floating Lidar Pre-Deployment Validation at the Narec NOAH Offshore Met Tower DNV GL https://oswbuoysny.resourcepanorama.dnv.com/download/f67d14ad-07ab-4652-16d2-08d71f257da1

MetOcean Data Portal DHI https://www.metocean-on-demand.com/

Short summary

ERA5 has become the workhorse of most wind resource assessment applications, as it compares better with in situ measurements than other reanalyses. However, for design purposes, ERA5 suffers from a drawback: it underestimates strong wind speeds offshore (approx. from 10 m s⁻¹). This is not widely discussed in the scientific literature. We address this bias and proposes a simple, robust correction. This article supports the growing need for use-case-specific validations of reanalysis datasets.