A Simple Recipe for Estimating Atmospheric Stability Solely Based on Surface-Layer Wind Speed Profile

Abstract: The wind energy community is gradually recognizing the significance of atmospheric stability in both power production and structural loading. However, estimating stability requires temperature gradient data which are not commonly measured by the wind farm developers or operators. To circumvent this problem, we propose a simple approach \emph{\'{a} la} Swinbank, to estimate stability from only three levels of wind speed measurements. As such, this approach is ideally suited for sodar and lidar--based wind measurements owing to their high vertical resolution in the surface layer.