Image courtesy of Stepan Klaas on Flickr
Butt of Lewis Field Research Facility
This research facility,
to be located
at theresource
Butt of Lewis, will
build upon
HebMarine
developed
wave energy
– the
This Hebridean
WaveaModel
was calibratedmodel
and verified
using field
the
Hebridean
Wave
Resource
Assessment,
carried
out
under
the
Hebridean
Model
- for
seas
to the Doppler
west of the
Outer
measurementsWave
from wave
buoys
and
acoustic
current
profilers.
industry funded HebMarine project, led by Lews Castle College.
Hebrides,
usingbuoys
DHI Mike
21 deployed
modelling15km
software.
Three Wave
were
off the northwest coast of
A grid was established over the area of interest – Barra Head at the
Lewis, at a water depth of 60m.
south to the Butt of Lewis at the north and extending some 50km into
Two ADCPs were deployed nearer to the shore, at a water depth of 6m.
the North Atlantic. Model inputs included bathymetry, wind (based on
meteorological records) and waves at the boundaries.
Image courtesy of Stepan Klaas on Flickr
Image courtesy of Nortek USA
Butt of Lewis Field Research Facility
To build on the sucess of HebMarine, a two year X-band radar deployment at
the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse is proposed under the MERIKA project, to
obtain high resolution sea state area measurements.
Image courtesy of Nortek USA
The Butt of Lewis has been selected because of the uninterrupted field of view
over the North Atlantic, at a location of strong wave and current interactions.
The Butt of Lewis facility will be used :
• To compare X- band area measurements with point measurements
with ADCPs and wave buoys,
• To gain further understanding of local variations in wave climate –
as evident in these wave roses for ADCPs only 60m apart,
• For further refinement and verification
of the Hebridean Wave Model.
Image courtesy of Stepan Klaas on Flickr
Butt of Lewis Field Research Facility
The MERIKA project (Marine Energy Research Innovation and Knowledge
Accelerator) is an initiative by UHI (University of the Highlands and the
Islands). The project aims to establish a research and innovation hub at UHI for
marine energy.
The project has three UHI partner organisations :
•
•
Lews Castle College, Stornoway,
Environmental Research Institute, Thurso,
•
Scottish Association of Marine Science, Oban,
and will foster links with 8 nr international research partners.
MERIKA is funded by the EU
Seventh Framework
programme, and runs from
2014-2017.
enquiries to : Dr Donald Armstrong
donald.armstrong@uhi.ac.uk