Phan Thanh Tung. Meteorological Modeling for Coastal Eastern Region of Thailand and Implications for Regional Wind Resource. Master's Degree(Environmental Technology). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library.. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2009.
Meteorological Modeling for Coastal Eastern Region of Thailand and Implications for Regional Wind Resource
Abstract:
Over recent decades, wind has been considered an important renewable energy
source for being clean, abundant, and eco-environmentally friendly. Evaluation of wind
energy resources at a given region may use either of the following key approaches:
observation or atmospheric modeling. The observational approach may provide high
accuracy of wind information, but requires long-term observed wind data from a large
number of monitoring stations. On the other hand, the atmospheric modeling provides high
accuracy of detailed wind fields at multiple height levels in complex as well as noncomplex
terrains. In this study, the Pennsylvania State University/National Centers for
Atmospheric Research (PSUINCAR) mesoscale model (MM5) is used to simulate the
land-sea breezes in the coastal eastern region of Thailand. The study region has been
developed rapidly as urban and industrial areas over recent years. We first investigate
meteorological conditions to understand the land-sea breeze circulation so as to examine
the regional wind resource. The observation data analysis for one year (2006) shows that
both the local and synoptic winds dominate in winter months, while only synoptic wind
prevails in summer and the rainy months. Monthly accumulated rainfall is the highest in
May and September at most monitoring stations. It is found that the sea breeze is
prevailing during winter from 08 local time (LT) to 21 LT with the frequency of sea breeze
day occurrence in January on 53% of days at all stations. The maximum sea breeze
strength reaches between 13 LT and 17 LT. Wind hodographs are used to illustrate the
diurnal variation of wind speed and direction of land-sea breezes.
Three episodes of the sea breeze development under different synoptic conditions are
simulated. Sensitivity tests have been performed with six physical parameter combinations
for the evolution of the land-sea breeze circulation. It is found that the model can simulate
the presence of the land-sea breeze circulation along the coastal eastern region of Thailand,
with its duration time ranging from 08 LT to 22 LT, and the inland penetration distance of
30-70 Ian. The simulated temperature is found consistently with all combinations with the
correlation coefficient ranging from 0.86 to 0.88. The model underestimates the
temperature for all combinations ranging from -2.6 C to -1.1 C for a mean bias (MB)
and 1.7 C to 2.7 C for a mean error (ME) on all days. Of all combinations, C06 (KainFritsch
2 cumulus scheme, ETA planetary boundary layer scheme, and Noah land surface
model) reproduces best the temperature. It is found that the model performs better during
wet days than dry days for all combinations. Model correlations for wind speed are clearly
lower than those of temperature. Of all combinations, C06 has about 65% within a factor
of two with the observations and correlation coefficients of 0.50 for the EGAT tower (45 m
above the ground or AGL) and 0.53 for the PCD.M2 tower (50 m AGL). C06 exhibits MB
ranging from -0.6 mls to 1.4 mis, ME from 1.3 mls to 2.4 mis, for magnitude and phase of
diurnal wind variation fairly well in comparison with the other combinations. It is found
that the model reproduces better for wind speed and wind direction during dry days than
wet days. Furthermore, regional wind-resource assessment indicates that the enhancements
of wind speed due to land-sea breezes are considerable during winter months. The diurnal
maximum wind speed variation is about 4 mls to 9 mls between 13 LT and 17 LT-that
coincides with a high electricity demand period.
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library.