Comparison of mast and boom wind speed and direction measurements on U.S. GATE B-scale ships

During the 1974 GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE), wind measurements were made aboard four U.S. ships with identical microvane and cup anemometers mounted on the forward masts and on booms extending from the ships’ bows.Study of the simultaneous wind observations by the mast and boom sensors shows wind speed differences varying from 0 to 1.0 m/s and wind directions varying between ± 15 for relative wind directions from 270 through 0 to 90°. These differences are dependent upon the relative wind direction, the wind speed, the heights of the sensors above sea level, the exposure of the sensor, and atmospheric stability. Wind speed differences are found to increase linearly when the wind direction is on the bow and in some cases nonlinearly when the ship lies normal to the wind. Specific biases in the wind measurements for each of the four ships are tabulated for the benefit of users of the archived GATE surface data. 1978 NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) Library Public domain 2286