A Methodology to Design a Wind Transfer Function: Application to the Valdevaqueros Dune (SW Spain)

Abstract

In general, weather forecasting has been significantly developed at a large scale and, joined with statistical techniques, is used to predict at a local scale. However, there is no way to propagate winds between two nearby locations; this is a spatial transference, for example, for the waves. After studying coastal dunar systems affected by winds, we have proposed a way for the spatial propagation of wind for scales under 10 km. The proposed transference is based on local data, and it is developed in an easy and accurate way by different regression methods and the wind profile theory. The aim of this article is to establish a methodology for achieving a wind transfer function for local applications. For this purpose, we analyzed and compared data from a field experiment and from a nearby weather station. A combination of the wind profile and statistical downscaling technique formed the basis of this research, which leads to transfer equations for wind speeds and directions. To clarify the procedure, the proposed methodology was applied to the Valdevaqueros Coastal Dune in order to develop a transfer function using time series data from a nearby meteorological station located in Tarifa.