Hi, I have wind direction data in hourly time resolution. I would like to compute monthly mean wind direction. If I use normal average (sum of wind direction in degree/number of observation=mean) I am getting wrong results for example to average 0 and 360 degree=180 degree( which is not correct). Is there a method to compute the average of wind direction??
Hi Philbert,
you should use vector averaging procedure, see the method in our paper Wolf, T., I. Esau, and J. Reuder, 2014: Analysis of the vertical temperature structure in the Bergen valley, Norway, and its connection to pollution episodes, Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmosphere), 119, doi:10.1002/2014JD022085
Dear Dr. Esau, thank you very much. You have resolved my problem, thanks
Try converting your wind direction data into the polar coordinate system and than use vector intensities as weights used to determine how much each vector's angle factors into the final average.
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