EMD-ConWx Meso Data Europe

Blue/yellow dots illustrate nearest EMD-ConWx Meso scale grid points, green dots are the nearest MERRA grid points for comparison.

Introduction

WindPRO 2.9 introduced a high-resolution meso-scale data set covering Europe. The data is modeled and computed in-house, and was originally developed in a collaboration between EMD and ConWx (http://www.conwx.com). ConWx are experts in meso-scale modelling.

Note: This dataset requires an additional license (see below).

Dataset Description

The meso-scale model is run at a high spatial resolution of 0.03°x0.03°, approximately 3x3 km, and with hourly temporal resolution. ERA Interim data from ECMWF (http://www.ecmwf.int) is the global boundary data. The timespan of the data is at least 15 years back from today, extended to cover a minimum of 20 years during 2013. Data access is via WindPRO’s user friendly interface to on-line data and requires payment of an annual subscription fee.

Release Schedule

Data is updated monthly with approximately 3 months delay defined by ERA Interim's availability and computational efforts regarding EMD's high-performance computer clusters. Before contacting support because of delays in the release schedule, please check ERA interim's availability on the ERA availability page. EMD-ConWX data cannot be computed before ERA interim data is available.

When downloading the most recent data, please note that the last day of the last month will be missing until the next month is added. This is because, in order to compute a full day of EmdConWx data, the 24:00h (or 0:00 of following day) time stamp is required, but the last time stamp of a month in ERA interim data is 18:00 h.

Required modules/licenses

To access the EMD-ConWx meso-scale data the following licenses/modules are required in your WindPRO setup:

• Basis
• METEO
• EMD-ConWx Meso Data, Europe

When the license fee is paid, you then have access to the full dataset without further cost. The price is available from the price-list on the EMD-homepage. Downloading of data is unrestricted for licenced users, however, a "fair use" policy applies. Unlicenced users may download three months of data from any point, however, multiple downloads are not allowed from the same point.

Model Domain

The model domain for the EMD-ConWx model is shown in the figure below. Our new dataset covers Europe including larger parts of Turkey and Ukraine but excluding the northern extremes of Scandinavia.

Illustration of the data coverage of the EMD-ConWx Meso Scale Data. Colors illustrate a snapshot of wind speed variations across Europe for one of the modeled hourly intervals.

Dataset Parameters

A large quantity of useful parameters are available directly in WindPRO to aid in your analysis. The different parameters in the EMD-ConWx dataset that are available from within WindPRO are shown in the table below.

Table: Overview of EMD-ConWx Meso Dataset Parameters (3 km grid).

Parameter	Unit	Description	Type
time		UTC time stamp
psfc	hPa	Pressure at site	Instantaneous
msl	hPa	Pressure at mean sea level	Instantaneous
wSpeed.x	m/s	Wind speeds at different physical levels (x). Heights (x): 10m, 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m	Instantaneous
wDir.x	deg	Wind speeds at different physical levels (x). Heights (x): 10m, 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m	Instantaneous
wSpeed.0-30mb	m/s	Wind speeds at pressure level 0-30mb.	Instantaneous
wDir.0-30mb	deg	Wind speeds at pressure levels 0-30mb.	Instantaneous
wSpeed.850hpa	m/s	Wind speeds at pressure level 850hPa.	Instantaneous
wDir.850hpa	deg	Wind speeds at pressure levels 850hPa.	Instantaneous
temperature.x	celcius	Temperatures at different heights (x) Heights (x): 2m and 100m	Instantaneous
waterTemp	celcius	Water temperature	Instantaneous
soilTemp.0-10cm	celcius	The temperature in the upper 10 cm of the soil	Instantaneous
relHumidity.2	%	Relative humidity in height 2m above ground level	Instantaneous
snowDepth	m	Show depth (if present)	Instantaneous
vis.s	m	Visibility at surface	Instantaneous
sensHeatFlux.s	w/m2	Sensible Heat Flux at surface	Instantaneous
totPrecip.s	kg/m^2/s	Total Precipitation at surface	1h Average
downShortWaveFlux.s	w/m2	Downward shortwave irradiance at surface	1h Average
totalCloudCover.a	%	Total cloud cover in atmosphere	1h Average
convCloudCover.a	%	Convective cloud cover in atmosphere	1h Average
Data below this line are not shown in a default import of EmdConWx data, but can be made available by clicking on the "+" button in the lower left corner of the import table.
4LFTX	K	N/A
rmol	1/m	N/A
znt	m	Rougnhess length
sqrtTKE.x	m/s	Wind speed given as standard deviation in m/s. Derived from the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Results available in different physical levels. Heights (x): 10m, 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m	Instantaneous
cloudWater.100	kg/kg	Parameter intended for estimating probability of icing.	Instantaneous
cloudIce.100	kg/m^2	Parameter intended for estimating probability of icing.	Instantaneous

Model Experiences and Validation

The model-setup has been validated through various internal investigations on masts around Europe. Direct comparison against a tall Danish mast at Høvsøre is found on the second page of the EMD-ConWx Meso datasheet available.

EMD and some users have found that the absolute levels of the wind speeds may be 10%-15% off at some Central European locations. However, note that this dataset was not designed to replace a mast but rather intended for long-term corrections of local masts. For this purpose, we have excellent experience with the use of the data – the absolute level does not need to be correct, as long as it is consistent.

For the absolute levels to be more accurate and potentially useful for direct micro-siting analysis, the need to incorporate a down-scaling procedure and further utilization of a micro-scale model with associated micro-scale topography is currently being investigated (2013).

In addition, the EMD-WRF modelling setup has been evaluated in a number of external benchmarks.
We have a separate EMD-WRF Benchmark Wiki-Page that holds links to those investigations.