Butt of Lewis Field Research Facility This research facility, to be located at the Butt of Lewis, will build upon the Hebridean Wave Resource Assessment, carried out under the industry funded HebMarine project, led by Lews Castle College. Image courtesy of Stepan Klaas on Flickr HebMarine developed a wave energy resource model – the Hebridean Wave Model - for seas to the west of the Outer Hebrides, using DHI Mike 21 modelling software. This Hebridean Wave Model was calibrated and verified using field measurements from wave buoys and acoustic Doppler current profilers. Three Wave buoys were deployed 15km off the northwest coast of Lewis, at a water depth of 60m. Two ADCPs were deployed nearer to the shore, at a water depth of 6m. A grid was established over the area of interest – Barra Head at the south to the Butt of Lewis at the north and extending some 50km into the North Atlantic. Model inputs included bathymetry, wind (based on meteorological records) and waves at the boundaries.

To build on the sucess of HebMarine, a two year X-band radar deployment at the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse is proposed under the MERIKA project, to obtain high resolution sea state area measurements. The Butt of Lewis has been selected because of the uninterrupted field of view over the North Atlantic, at a location of strong wave and current interactions. The Butt of Lewis facility will be used : To gain further understanding of local variations in wave climate – as evident in these wave roses for ADCPs only 60m apart, To compare X- band area measurements with point measurements with ADCPs and wave buoys, For further refinement and verification of the Hebridean Wave Model. Image courtesy of Stepan Klaas on Flickr Butt of Lewis Field Research Facility Image courtesy of Nortek USA

The MERIKA project (Marine Energy Research Innovation and Knowledge Accelerator) is an initiative by UHI (University of the Highlands and the Islands). The project aims to establish a research and innovation hub at UHI for marine energy. enquiries to : Dr Donald Armstrong Lews Castle College, Stornoway, Environmental Research Institute, Thurso, Scottish Association of Marine Science, Oban, and will foster links with 8 nr international research partners. MERIKA is funded by the EU Seventh Framework programme, and runs from Image courtesy of Stepan Klaas on Flickr Butt of Lewis Field Research Facility The project has three UHI partner organisations :