Spaceborne Earth Observation for Offshore Wind Energy Applications

Earth Observation, especially satellite-based remote sensing, with more than three decades of maturity, is being used for a wide suite of applications ranging from weather forecasting to monitoring land-use changes and natural disasters such as fires. The increase in installed and planned offshore wind energy capacity triggers new demands for observations of the remote oceanic environment. Satellite-derived ocean surface winds, with more than 20 years of near-seamless temporal coverage, offer a unique opportunity to characterize the offshore environment prior to deciding the installation of in situ measuring stations and high-resolution simulations. This paper demonstrates and summarises the applicability of satellite-based ocean surface winds for a range of needs stemming from the offshore wind energy sector.