Topography

Topographic data in WindKit comes in two formats: vector and raster. This section covers the main topographic data types:

• Elevation Maps - Height above sea level (contours or rasters)

• Roughness Maps - Surface roughness length

• Land Cover Maps - Land cover classifications with roughness lookup

See also

Spatial for spatial operations (reprojection, clipping, masking).

Topographic Variables

Elevation - Height of the Earth’s surface above sea level. Stored as contour lines (vector) or height grids (raster).

Surface Roughness (z0) - Aerodynamic roughness length, defined as the height at which wind speed reaches 0 m/s. Values typically range from 0.0002 (water) to 1.5+ (forest/urban).

Land Cover - Surface classification (urban, cropland, forest, etc.) mapped to roughness and displacement height via a windkit.LandCoverTable.

Displacement Height - Height at which the logarithmic wind profile effectively starts, important for tall vegetation and urban areas.