The atmospheric flow at the Alcantara Launching Center (CLA) was studied through analysis of the wind profile data measured during the period from 1995 to 1999 (considered as a control) at six levels (6, 10, 16.3, 28.5, 43 and 70 m) on an anemometric tower (TA), which is placed 200 m from the sea coast (50 m height cliff), near the rocket launching platform. Two additional years (2004-2005) data set were used for validation analysis. The results showed that the friction velocity (u*) was equal to 0.32 ± 0.13 m/s (0.46 ± 0.11 m/s) during the rainy (dry) period, while the roughness length (z0) was equal to 0.19 ± 0.32 m (0.06 ± 0.05 m) for the rainy (dry) period, thus showing the seasonality of these turbulence parameters. The exponent ± of the wind velocity Power Law varied from 0.19 (July) to 0.27 (March), presenting a decrease on the coefficient (α) with altitude. Using the data set from 2004-2005, for a typical rainy month (March), it was showed that the estimated velocities are greater than the measured ones, which was due to the weaker atmospheric neutrality conditions. However, for a dry month, the estimated and computed velocities were about the same, as the mechanical turbulence (wind speed) is higher than 10 m/s and thus implying a neutral atmosphere condition.
anemometric tower; neutral atmosphere; Wind profile logarithmic; Power Law
