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Title: SIMULATION OF WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION FROM LIMITED DATA

Author
item Skidmore, Edward
item LIAO, CHAOYING - NORTHWEST A&F UNIVERSITY
item Van Donk, Simon

Submitted to: International Soil Conservation Organization (ISCO)
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/13/2006
Publication Date: 5/13/2006
Citation: Skidmore, E.L., Liao, C., Van Donk, S.J. 2006. Simulation of wind speed and direction from limited data. International Soil Conservation Organization Conference Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary: Wind power density calculated from the full 24-hour data set and that calculated from the 4-hour data set agreed well with each other for most months for the three locations. The same was true for prevailing wind erosion direction. WEPS simulations showed that wind-blown sediment crossed field boundaries roughly in the same direction using either wind data set. WEPS-simulated average annual soil loss also corresponded well between the two data sets. Even though simulation results between the two wind data sets were not exactly the same, WEPS can use limited wind data to do what it is intended for: to assess the effect of alternative management practices on wind erosion. In spite of temporally limited wind data, it is possible to use WEPS to estimate wind erosion hazard and relative effectiveness of various conservation practices.

Technical Abstract: The Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) requires hourly wind data but these are not always available. Therefore, a procedure was developed to stochastically generate wind speed and direction from temporally limited wind data. For three locations. two statistical datasets were created to be used with the WEPS stocastic wind generator, based on 1) the full dataset with 24 observations per day and 2) a subset of 4 observations per day: at 2, 8, 14, and 20 hours local time. Erosive wind power densities, calculated from both datasets, agreed well with each other. The same was true for prevailing wind erosion direction and WEPS-simullated soil loss. In spite of temporally limited wind data, it is possible to sue WEPS to estimate wind erosion hazard and relative effectiveness of various conservation practices.