3rd Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NOAA are conducting a multi-seasonal offshore field measurement research campaign off the coast of New England.

In collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Woods Hole) among other public and private partners, the 3rd Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3) aims to boost off-shore wind generation through better forecasting for the Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind farms currently under construction, the existing Block Island Wind Farm, as well as for additional wind farms that are in the planning process.

In November 2023, Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL), along with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML), several DOE labs, universities, and Woods Hole, installed 20 different meteorological instruments on Nantucket and Block Island, with additional instruments on Martha’s Vineyard, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and in Narragansett, Rhode Island. NOAA's Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) will be using these observations to improve NOAA’s weather forecast models.

Data collection from these instruments is underway. PSL has developed a tool to allow scientists to compare WFIP3 observations with different weather forecast modes to evaluate how well the models simulate important physical processes.