Page 184 - Fundamentals of Ocean Renewable Energy Generating Electricity From The Sea

In Situ and Remote Methods for Resource Characterization Chapter | 7 173

FIG. 7.11 A Microstar drifter made by Pacific Gyre.

The Global Drifter Programme consists of a global array of drifters, and is
funded by the Global Observing System of NOAA. About 1250 satellite-tracked
drifters (Fig. 7.12) collect various types of data such as currents, sea surface
temperature, atmospheric pressure, winds, and salinity. Data from the drifters
can be accessed and downloaded through an online map tool via the project
website: www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac/index.php.

7.2 WAVE ENERGY RESOURCE CHARACTERIZATION
At the very early stages of project development, resources such as wave atlases
(e.g. the ABPmer Atlas of UK Marine Renewable Energy Resources [1], or the
NREL Atlas of US marine renewable energy resources) or the outputs from
global wave models (e.g. WAVEWATCH III hindcast reanalysis [14]) may be
useful for informing site selection. However, such products have either coarse
resolution or do not fully characterize temporal variability in the wave climate
(e.g. the ABPmer Atlas provides only annual and seasonal means). Therefore, it
is almost certain that at some stage of project development, in situ measurements
of waves will be required. The most common way of measuring waves, and