Characterization of Geographical and Meteorological Parameters

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the introduction of some geographical and meteorological information involved in the numerical modeling of wind fields and solar radiation. Firstly, a brief description of the topographical data given by a Digital Elevation Model and Land Cover databases are provided. In particular, the Information System of Land Cover of Spain (SIOSE) is considered. The study is focused in the roughness length and the displacement height parameters that appear in the logarithmic wind profile, as well as in the albedo related to solar radiation computation. An extended literature review and characterization of both parameters are reported. Next, the concept of atmospheric stability is introduced from the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory to the recent revision of Zilitinkevich of the Neutral and Stable Boundary Layers (SBL). The latter considers the effect of the free-flow static stability and baroclinicity on the turbulent transport of momentum and of the Convective Boundary Layers (CBL), more precisely, the scalars in the boundary layer, as well as the model of turbulent entrainment. 2.1 Geographical data The main geographical information for wind and solar radiation modeling may be classified into two general databases, the topographical data related to the orography of the region to be studied and the land cover databases containing the information of the land uses. In this section, both are introduced.