The US Energy Department has deployed an Axys WindSentinel buoy off the coast of Atlantic City in New Jersey to gather data to plan future offshore wind deployments.
The DoE said a key instrument on top of the buoy is a lidar device that shoots a series of lasers 650 feet into the sky and measures their reflection to characterize wind speeds at various altitudes.
The buoy also uses additional meteorological and oceanographic instruments that record air and sea surface temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wave height and period, water salinity, and subsurface ocean currents.
Data from the buoy will help validate wind predictions derived from computer models, which have thus far relied on very limited information, the DoE said.
The WindSentinel is operating at full capacity and transmits data to shore every 10 minutes.
Image: the WindSentinel buoy (US Energy Department)
