Atlantic Coast Floating LiDAR Buoy Measurements for Offshore Wind

Floating LiDAR buoy data measures meteorological and oceanographic conditions to support offshore wind energy development. The multi-year project deployed buoys at multiple locations in the New York Bight, collecting turbine hub-height wind speed and direction, wave, and current measurements. The data collection began in August 2019 and was executed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Use Cases

• Modeling turbine hub-height wind speed and direction for wind resource assessment and energy yield prediction.
• Analyzing wave height and current measurements to inform offshore structure design and operational safety.
• Correlating LiDAR-derived wind data with other environmental measurements for metocean condition forecasting.
• Supporting site selection and feasibility studies for offshore wind farms in the New York Bight region.

Strengths

• Multi-year data collection spanning from August 2019, providing a temporal record.
• Measurements from multiple deployment locations (Hudson South and Hudson North) for spatial comparison.
• Collects key parameters for wind energy including turbine hub-height wind speed and wave data.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column details, and data resolution are unknown.
• Geographic scope is limited to the New York Bight area of the Atlantic coast.
• Data freshness is unclear as the last platform update date may not reflect new data additions.

Provenance

Source

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Collection Method

Deployment of metocean buoys equipped with LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology.

Time Range

Beginning August 2019, with a multi-year deployment period.

Freshness

Data collection began August 2019; platform record last updated April 2026.

Geography

Waters off the Atlantic coast of New York, specifically the New York Bight (Hudson South and Hudson North locations).