Vortex uses a supercomputer cluster to run a non-linear flow model (WRF) that scales large atmospheric patterns (NCAR-NCEP) down to fine spatial resolutions (SRTM), generating simulated wind data suitable to be used as an alternative to actual wind data where and when no measurements are as yet available.

Current wind modelers on the market offer either pre-calculated products or specific studies on a consultancy basis. Pre-calculated products need to cover the whole world and are therefore simpler than Vortex ones: lower resolutions, linear flow results, etc. Consultancy is generally slow and expensive.

Instead, Vortex has automated a full non-linear modeling chain down to the microscale. Each calculation is performed on-demand, only on the client's area of interest and without a need of a slow human interaction.

Vortex is initialized by users, allowing direct interaction between the clients PC and our computer cluster over the Internet. This approach is much faster (and is price more competitive) than consultancy and much more powerful than pre-calculated results.

Yes, this is due to the fact that calculations are non-linear, and non-linear computing is not immediate. Pre-calculating the whole world at high resolution using a non-linear model would require a huge amount of computing power and would also result in thousands of non-interesting areas being calculated.

As a beneficial side effect, running each simulation on-demand allows Vortex to incorporate cutting edge technology or lessons from former cas through an on-going learning process.

Vortex’s system core, WRF, is a sophisticated code that has been effectively employed to describe the physics and dynamics of atmospheric circulations with a significant degree of realism at a wide range of scales. WRF is neither a microscale nor large-scale model, but is a one-in-all.

WRF accuracy is based on the ability to portray the different mechanisms that interact at each one of the relevant atmospheric scales. The WRF model is the result of years of development by the atmospheric research community combined with additional experience from the extended use for weather forecast applications.

The usual truncation, or simplification, of the equations that control atmospheric movements of air masses is definitively small in WRF when compared to other lighter atmospheric codes. However, equally as relevant as this non-linear approach, is how the model includes other relevant factors such as radiation, thermal effects, air-sea-land interactions. In this sense, WRF is a modular model that can be adapted for different applications depending on the scale of the atmospheric movements, surface boundaries and thermal characteristic of the air masses, etc.

Current Vortex system accuracy values are presented here. These values change periodically thanks to the feedback of our users, who compare Vortex simulation results against their good-quality data.

Our approach is risky but honest. Vortex is currently the only company on the market that allows for a systematical comparison of our model results against your measurements for you to gain confidence in the reliability of our simulations first hand.

No, your measured data is your only reference to check the reliability of our modeling system. If you have good-quality, local measurements, comparing them against our short-term (1 year) product, MAST, gives you a clean measure of the model’s ability to reproduce your particular case. To be clean, such comparison is performed at your office: you never send your measured data, its us who send you our computer results.

Since the methodology used to compute all other, long-term Vortex wind estimations is the same as that used for MAST, you can use the accuracy of the results of the latter to estimates the accuracy of the former.

Yes, Vortex SERIES provide Mesoscale reference time series: 10 years of hourly data at any location world wide.

Before purchasing them, Vortex offers the possibility of downloading a free 6 months sample for you to check that the modeled series correlate with your measurements.

Since SERIES (like all Vortex products) are computed on demand, their calculation domain is centered on your selected point of interest so "distance to nearest calculation node" is always 0.

Furthermore, Vortex SERIES spatial resolution is 3km, currently the finest one in the market.

Vortex SERIES are delivered at 80m a.g.l. but this information is hiden in purpose since they are a Mesoscale product of 3km-resolution, thus not directly comparable against actual measurements at a particular point and height but designed for MCP (correlation) purposes only.

If you intend to compare modeling results against actual measurements you should simulate the atmosphere down to the Microscale. Our Microscale products MAST & FARM do contain modeling effects down to the 100m resolution and, depending on the terrain, many phenomena may occur between the 3km and 100m scales.

No, sorry. One of Vortex’s main aims is to provide our customers with fast results. This is only possible by automating the calculation process. Accepting your own surface data as an input for the simulation would imply a certain degree of manual work (revisions, corrections, etc.) that would slow down the whole proces.

If you have finer resolution input data (and time to process it) our suggestion is that you locally run your own Microscale simulations with, for example WAsP or WindSim.

Vortex MAST results have been compared fairly successfully against user measurements taken inside or near a forest after certain precautions have been taken:

Vortex land use data comes from satellite information. Such information can distinguish between different types of trees but says nothing about the trees’ height. Depending on the forest, it is advisable to transport the calculation height down to take into account the canopy of the forest. For example, if trees are 15m high, model results at 60m will better match measurements at 45m. This kind of corrections must be performed by the client when information about the forest is available.

Vortex’s service only deals with wind and other meteorological variables such as temperature. No further results are provided.

Production yield, wake effects or many other calculations are not included in our scope. Many good software packages (EMD WindPRO, RESoft Windfarm, GL-GH Windfarmer, etc.) are available for such production calculations, which can be performed using Vortex deliverables as input. Or you can contact any of the many consultancy firms which will be able to prepare the deliverables for you.