Comparison of Three Methods for Calculating the Standard Deviation of the Wind Direction

Abstract

Three methods to calculate wind direction standard deviation are evaluated. Although eight hours of wind data show no significant differences between the methods, synthetically generated data having standard deviations near the maximum possible show the Yamartino method to perform well. Also, the wind direction for periods such as an hour is shown to be well represented by the arctangent of the mean sines and cosines.