Ocean winds observed from spacebourne scatterometers are used in the offshore part of NEWA. New wind resource statistics at 10 m above the surface are now available.
The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) on the European METOP-A & B platforms, is a microwave radar that measures the pulse backscattered from the ocean surface due to small scale roughness elements, which are in equilibrium with the wind over the ocean. Wind speed and direction information is available daily at a global scale. Such data are used in NEWA for an estimation of the wind resource at 10m and meso-scale model validation. New wind resource statistics at 10m have been computed at DTU Wind Energy.
Mean wind speed (left) and energy density (right) from the 12.5 km, coastal ASCAT stress-equivalent wind product. Results generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.