Ocean Wind Power Maps Reveal Possible Wind Energy Sources

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JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
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Alan Buis/Diya Chacko 818-354-0474/393-5464
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov, diya.s.chacko@jpl.nasa.gov

Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-128 July 9, 2008

Ocean Wind Power Maps Reveal Possible Wind Energy Sources

PASADENA, Calif. - Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth's ocean winds could soon
gain an important new tool: global satellite maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating
maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA's QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas
where winds could produce energy.

The new maps have many potential uses including planning the location of offshore wind farms
to convert wind energy into electric energy. The research, published this week in Geophysical
Research Letters, was funded by NASA's Earth Science Division, which works to advance the
frontiers of scientific discovery about Earth, its climate and its future.

"Wind energy is environmentally friendly. After the initial energy investment to build and install
wind turbines, you don't burn fossil fuels that emit carbon," said study lead author Tim Liu, a
senior research scientist and QuikSCAT science team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Like solar power, wind energy is green energy."

QuikSCAT, launched in 1999, tracks the speed, direction and power of winds near the ocean
surface. Data from QuikSCAT, collected continuously by a specialized microwave radar
instrument named SeaWinds, also are used to predict storms and enhance the accuracy of
weather forecasts.

Wind energy has the potential to provide 10 to 15 percent of future world energy requirements,
according to Paul Dimotakis, chief technologist at JPL. If ocean areas with high winds were
tapped for wind energy, they could potentially generate 500 to 800 watts of energy per square
meter, according to Liu's research. Dimotakis notes that while this is slightly less than solar
energy (which generates about one kilowatt, or 1,000 watts, of energy per square meter), wind
power can be converted to electricity more efficiently than solar energy and at a lower cost per
watt of electricity produced.

According to Liu, new technology has made floating wind farms in the open ocean possible. A
number of wind farms are already in operation worldwide. Ocean wind farms have less
environmental impact than onshore wind farms, whose noise tends to disturb sensitive wildlife in
their immediate area. Also, winds are generally stronger over the ocean than on land because
there is less friction over water to slow the winds down -- there are no hills or mountains to block
the wind's path.

Ideally, offshore wind farms should be located in areas where winds blow continuously at high
speeds. The new research identifies such areas and offers explanations for the physical
mechanisms that produce the high winds.

An example of one such high-wind mechanism is located off the coast of Northern California
near Cape Mendocino. The protruding land mass of the cape deflects northerly winds along the
California coast, creating a local wind jet that blows year-round. Similar jets are formed from
westerly winds blowing around Tasmania, New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego in South America,
among other locations. Areas with large-scale, high wind power potential also can be found in
regions of the mid-latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, where winter storms normally
track.

The new QuikSCAT maps, which add to previous generations of QuikSCAT wind atlases, also
will be beneficial to the shipping industry by highlighting areas of the ocean where high winds
could be hazardous to ships, allowing them to steer clear of these areas.

Scientists use the QuikSCAT data to examine how ocean winds affect weather and climate, by
driving ocean currents, mixing ocean waters and affecting the carbon, heat and water interaction
between the ocean and the atmosphere. JPL manages QuikSCAT for NASA. For more
information about QuikSCAT, visit: http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov .

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov .

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