Comparison Report between LiDAR unit WLS7-436 and LiDAR unit ZX1166

This report compares the wind characteristics of Lidar WLS7 436, a Windcube v2.0 lidar, and Lidar ZX1166, a ZX Lidars ZX300M, comprising part of the Met Ocean Reference Station (MORS-1) situated on the Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT) located approximately 3 km south of Martha’s Vineyard in 17-m of water. The ASIT is a cabled, fixed platform that has a maximum height of 23 m above mean sea level (MSL) and a platform located at 13 m MSL. The ASIT operates within the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO) facility established in 2001 and is operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Remote sensing data collection commenced at the ASIT in October 2016 with the initial deployment of Lidar WLS7 436 as part of a metocean initiative funded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)1. WHOI later established the MORS-1 campaign in 2021. Lidar ZX1166, a calibrated ZX Lidars ZX300M, was deployed to the ASIT platform on 1 September 2021. Lidar WLS7 436 was removed from the platform on 8 October 2021. Site information, a table of concurrent mean wind speeds at each measurement level between 60 m and 200 m, scatterplots of concurrent wind speeds at each measurement level between 60 m and 200 m, wind speed frequency distributions and wind roses at two key measurement levels, and a plot of concurrent wind shear are presented below for the period that the two lidars were present on the ASIT platform. For their concurrent period of record, wind speed and direction data at the same measurement levels agreed closely between the two lidars.