The Offshoe Boundary-Layer EXperiment at Fino1 (OBLEX-F1) takes place at the German wind energy research platform FINO1, in close vicinity to the first German offshore wind park Alpha Ventus in the North Sea. The campaign consists of both meteorological and oceanographic deployments, of which the OBLO infrastructure is heavily used. The OBLO project also contributes to this campaign with expertise in data analysis.
The key purpose of OBLEX-F1 is to improve our knowledge of the marine boundary layer stability, air-sea interaction and offshore wake propagation effects. The collected observational data will be used to validate and improve numerical models and tools for i.e. weather forecasting, marine operations, power performance and wind farm layout.
Currently, the two scanning lidar systems (Leosphere 100s) are deployed on FINO1 and perform extensive measurements of the wind field in and around Alpha Ventus. In addition, one of the HATPRO radiometers provide information on the temperature and humidity profiles up to an altitude of more than 1000 m.
Example of a radial wind speed PPI scan (x-y-slices) showing turbine wakes from the AV4 and AV5 wind turbines.
Example of a radial wind speed RHI scan showing a x-z-cross section through the turbine wakes of turbine AV4 and AV5.
The oceanographic part of the campaign took place between June and October 2015, where five bottom-anchored mooring systems were deployed at the site in order to investigate the physical processes of air-sea interaction, particularly turbulence generated by breaking surface waves on the oceanic mixed layer. The moorings were deployed both at FINO1 upwind of Alpha Ventus and downwind of the wind farm. The aim was to detect, if any, the influence of the wind farm on ocean currents, hydrography, turbulence and the surface wave field.
More information about the OBLEX-F1 campaign can be found at the NORCOWE webpage.
A list of ongoing research utilizing the data from the OBLEX-F1 field campaign can be found here.
Meteorological OBLO instrumentation deployed at FINO1. Photo: Martin Flügge (CMR)
Oceanographic equipment used during OBLEX-F1. Bottom frame (left), submerged buoy system (middle) and submerged Moored Autonomous Turbulence System (right). Photo: Helge Bryhni (UiB)