OCEAN SURFACE WINDS OFF THE WEST-COAST OF NEW-ZEALAND - A COMPARISON OF OCEAN BUOY, ECMWF MODEL, AND LAND-BASED DATA

Wind data for the period July-October 1994 from an ocean buoy moored o ff the west coast of New Zealand have been compared with model wind da ta from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and data from the nearest land-based station. The buoy and ECMWF wind s were highly coherent and strongly polarized in the alongshore direct ion, suggesting that the ECMWF model correctly accounts for the orogra phic effect of the mountainous New Zealand landmass on the prevailing synoptic weather systems. At low frequencies, the ECMWF data can be us ed as a substitute for in situ wind data in oceanographic applications in the New Zealand region. This is a similar result to that reported in some Northern Hemisphere studies. In contrast, winds at the land-ba sed site were much weaker and less strongly aligned alongshore than wi nds recorded offshore.