Non-stationary and non-Gaussian characteristics of wind speeds

Non-stationarity and non-Gaussian property are two of the most important characteristics of wind. These two features are studied in this study based on wind speed records measured at different heights from a 325 m high meteorological tower during the synoptic wind storms. By using the time-frequency analysis tools, it is found that after removing the low frequency trend of the longitudinal wind, the retained fluctuating wind speeds remain to be asymmetrically non-Gaussian distributed. Results show that such non-Gaussianity is due to the weak-stationarity of the detrended fluctuating wind speed. The low frequency components of the fluctuating wind speeds mainly contribute to the non-zero skewness, while distribution of the high frequency component is found to have high kurtosis values. By further studying the decomposed wind speed, the mechanisms of the non-Gaussian distribution are examined from the phase, turbulence energy point of view.