Course Details

Introduction to Meteorology

Course background

Garrad Hassan has acted as the technical adviser for more than 21,000MW of operational wind projects, and assessed the energy yield of over 80,000MW. In undertaking these tasks, Garrad Hassan has advised on more wind farm developments than any other company in the world.

This course offers an introduction to meteorology, with application to wind energy in mind. The course will cover a description of the atmospheric circulation, the structure of the atmosphere, and its various scales. Typical large systems as the low pressure system, monsoons and hurricanes will then be described. In the afternoon the modelling of the atmosphere will be discussed, and finally, the most important aspects of wind power meteorology will be described, these include: local effects, variations on different scales, “strange animals in the micro-scale zoo” like complex terrain, forestry, wind profiles, and thermally-driven winds. A questions and answers session will close the day.

Who should attend?

Wind resource analysts, Project managers, developers, civil and structural designers, lenders, turbine designers and other professionals who wish to benefit from Garrad Hassan’s technical and commercial knowledge of the meteorological aspects of wind power developments. Garrad Hassan has assumed that attendees will have a technical background, but no specific meteorological knowledge is required.

Course Outline

• Why does the wind blow?
• Structure of the atmosphere: the atmospheric engine, escape velocity, the layers of the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect, albedo
• Atmospheric Scales: global, synoptic, meso, micro
• The low-pressure system
• The monsoons, tropical cyclones, hurricanes
• Atmospheric Variables: velocity (wind), pressure, temperature, humidity, density, stability
• Modelling the atmosphere: global circulation models, numerical weather prediction, chaos, ensemble
• Climate change
• Wind power meteorology
• Q&A session

Upcoming course dates and locations: