The Alderney Race is assumed to have the largest tidal-stream energy potential in the north-western European coastal seas. Interaction of the powerful tidal stream with strong wind, high waves and irregular bathymetry creates hydrodynamic conditions of extreme complexity, with high levels of turbulence. A comprehensive dataset has been created to improve the understanding of physical processes, turbulence, tidal stream and resource variability at the site. The database contains a large amount of oceanographic and meteorological measurements acquired in Alderney Race in 2017–2018. This exceptionally long period of observations (nearly one year) became possible due to modern tools and strategies of data acquisition. The paper presents some significant results from the database analysis. Among many results, we would like to underline the following: (i) a wide range of variability of mean flow and sea state parameters was documented; (ii) exceptionally large values of current velocity (7 m s−1) and significant wave height (8 m) were measured during extreme meteorological conditions; (iii) high-frequency variability of current speed during storm events was also found to be very large, with the standard deviation of velocity reaching 0.3 m s−1 in the bottom boundary layer, and 0.6 m s−1 in the surface layer; and (iv) predominant wind and wave direction relative to the flow impacts the wave height and significantly increases the turbulence kinetic energy of the flow. To our knowledge, this is the largest multi-variable database available on potential tidal energy sites. The results of database analysis can represent a significant advance in environmental conditions and resource characterization and provide advanced information to turbine developers. This article is part of the theme issue ‘New insights on tidal dynamics and tidal energy harvesting in the Alderney Race’.

中文翻译：

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Alderney Race 一年的测量：数据库分析的初步结果

奥尔德尼岛被认为在欧洲西北部沿海拥有最大的潮汐能潜力。强大的潮汐流与强风、大浪和不规则水深的相互作用产生了极其复杂的水动力条件，具有高度湍流。已经创建了一个综合数据集，以提高对现场物理过程、湍流、潮汐流和资源可变性的理解。该数据库包含 2017-2018 年在奥尔德尼竞赛中获得的大量海洋和气象测量数据。由于现代工具和数据采集策略，这种超长的观察时间（近一年）成为可能。本文介绍了数据库分析的一些重要结果。在众多结果中，我们想强调以下几点：(i) 记录了平均流量和海况参数的广泛可变性；(ii) 在极端气象条件下测量到异常大的水流速度值 (7 m s-1) 和显着波高 (8 m)；(iii) 风暴事件期间海流速度的高频变化也非常大，底部边界层速度的标准偏差达到0.3 m s-1，表层速度的标准偏差达到0.6 m s-1；(iv) 相对于流动的主要风向和波浪方向影响波高并显着增加流动的湍流动能。据我们所知，这是潜在潮汐能站点上最大的多变量数据库。数据库分析的结果可以代表环境条件和资源特征方面的重大进步，并为涡轮机开发人员提供高级信息。本文是主题问题“奥尔德尼岛竞赛中潮汐动力学和潮汐能收集的新见解”的一部分。