Preliminary results of a statistical wind resources analysis in offshore conditions in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

A statistical analysis of the wind resources has been undertaken by mean of data measured on a communication tower installed on a pier which extends 6.65km from the coastline. A set of wind and temperature sensors were installed to record the ten minute averages over approximately two years. As a complement, hourly values of Sea Surface Temperature, extracted from GEOS satellite measurements over the study region, were also included in the research presented. The results have confirmed that the offshore wind is thermally driven by differential heating of land and sea producing sea breezes which veer to blow parallel to the coast in the late afternoon under the action of the Coriolis force. Air temperature and sea surface temperature profiles suggested largely unstable conditions and the potentially development of a shallow Stable Internal Boundary Layer.