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Device boosts wind-speed accuracy |
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Thursday, 22 February 2007 |
 | Perry
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by JAMISON DORAN
News Reporter
The practice of measuring wind on Grandfather Mountain is back in business and likely to be more accurate after the installation of a new anemometer last week.
An anemometer is a device used to measure the velocity or pressure of the wind and is common in weather stations worldwide.
Grandfather Mountain’s 200 mph wind-speed record has been questioned because of the location of the previous anemometer.
“Meteorologists took issue with the 200 mph number because the
anemometer was located on a building where winds coming over the
building picked up speed,” Grandfather Mountain News Director
Landis Wofford said.
This is important because the world record for wind speed is 231 mph and that was set in 1934 at Mount Washington, N.H.
At the time the 200-mph reading was recorded on Grandfather, some
people believed that the measurement might have been close to the
world-record mark, but it is important to make sure that the
mountain is getting accurate readings.
Responding to criticism that the speed-readings on Grandfather may have
been inaccurate due to the location, H. Crae Morton, president of
Grandfather Mountain, invited meteorological experts to the mountain to
hear what they had to say.
The experts recommended that the new device, the Young Alpine model, be
installed on a 10-meter tower to elevate the gauge high above the
turbulence created when the wind hits a solid object like a
cliff or building.
With the new anemometer, Grandfather Mountain hopes to obtain
representative measurements of the wind speed using standards accepted
by the meteorological community, Dr. L. Baker Perry, a professor of
geography and planning, said.
Last June, it was decided to set up the anemometer on a tower on top of
the swinging bridge in order to get more accurate readings.
At first, Morton said, they were worried that this new wind sensor
would be somewhat of an eyesore, so the plans were to remove it during
the summer when visitation is at its peak, however it isn’t an
eyesore and is actually rather interesting to look at so they are planning on keeping it up indefinitely.
The new anemometer will be able to measure winds that are much higher
than the previous one, if such winds do occur on Grandfather.
“It has a stated accuracy of 224 mph and has been wind tunnel tested to
252 mph, so we feel confident that it will hold up provided the tower
does,” Perry said.
Another advantage to this new equipment is that it will not freeze in the winter.
“Our old equipment would freeze up in icy conditions and therefore couldn’t report [information], so
having this no-freeze technology is big for us,” Landis said.
It also appears that the wind gusts that were measured with the old
anemometer were higher than what the actual wind has been on the
mountain.
“While we still need to wait a few months to find anything substantial,
so far we have seen that measurements on the old anemometer are higher
than on the new,” Morton said.
On Sunday, for example, the new wind sensor measured wind gusts at 96
mph, while the old one had measurements of well over 100 mph.
This new device is helping the mountain in being a “living laboratory,” Morton said.
Wind enthusiasts as well as anyone who is interested will be able to view the data online at the
Grandfather Mountain Web site.
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