
WindSENSE: Integrating wind energy on the power grid is a challenge, especially with increasing installed wind capacity, the presence of ramp events where the energy increases or decreases by a large amount in a short time, and the need to keep the grid balanced. Taking a data-oriented approach to the problem, we focused on two topics: i) how do we best make use of existing data; and ii) what new data should we collect to improve short-term and extreme-event weather forecasts. This was joint work with AWS TruePower, in collaboration with Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), California Independent System Operator (CaISO), and Southern California Edison (SCE).
Select publications (available from Google Scholar):
- C. Kamath, “WindSENSE Project Summary: FY2009-2011,” LLNL Technical Report, LLNL-TR-501376, September 2011.
- J. Manobianco, E. J. Natenberg, K. Waight, G. Van Knowe, J. Zack, D. Hanley, C. Kamath, “Limited area model-based data impact studies to improve short-range wind power forecasting,” 16th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, January 2012.
- J. Zack, E. J. Natenberg, G. V. Knowe, K. Waight, J. Manobianco, D. Hanley, C. Kamath, Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) for the mid-Columbia Basin,” LLNL Technical Report LLNL-TR-499162, September 2011.
- J. Zack, E. J. Natenberg, G. V. Knowe, J. Manobianco, K. Waight, D. Hanley, C. Kamath, “Use of data denial experiments to evaluate ESA forecast sensitivity patterns,” LLNL technical Report, LLNL-TR-499166, September 2011.
- C. Kamath, “Associating Weather Conditions with Ramp Events in Wind Power Generation,” 2011 IEEE PES Power Systems Conference & Exposition, Phoenix, Arizona, March 20 – 23, 2011.
- E. J. Natenberg, S. Young, G. Van Knowe, J. Zack, J. Manobianco, C. Kamath, “Observational Targeting Using Ensemble Sensitivity Analysis to Improve Short-Term Wind Power Forecasting in the Mid-Columbia Basin,” Second Conference on Weather, Climate, and the New Energy Economy, AMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, January 23-27, 2011 LLNL-ABS-448126
- J. Zack, E. J. Natenberg, S. Young, G. V. Knowe, K. Waight, J. Manobianco, and C. Kamath, “Application of ensemble sensitivity analysis to observation targeting for short term wind speed forecasting in the Tehachapi region winter season,” LLNL Technical Report LLNL-TR-460956, October 2010.
- J. Zack, E. J. Natenberg, S. Young, G. V. Knowe, K. Waight,J. Manobianco, and C. Kamath, “Application of ensemble sensitivity analysis to observation targeting for short term wind speed forecasting in the Washington-Oregon region,”LLNL Technical Report LLNL-TR-458086, October 2010.
- E. J. Natenberg, J. Zack,S. Young, J. Manobianco, and C. Kamath, ” A new approach using targeted observations to improve short term wind power forecasts, ” AWEA WindPower 2010 Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, TX, May 2010.
- J. Zack, E. J. Natenberg, S. Young, J. Manobianco, and C. Kamath, “”Application of ensemble sensitivity analysis to observational targeting for short term wind speed forecasting,”LLNL Technical Report LLNL-TR-424442, February, 2010.
- E. J. Natenberg, J. Zack, S. Young, R. Torn, J. Manobianco, and C. Kamath, “”Application of ensemble sensitivity analysis to observational targeting for wind power forecasting,” 14th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), AMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, January, 2010
- C. Kamath, “Understanding wind ramp events through analysis of historical data,” IEEE PES Transmission and Distribution Conference, New Orleans, April 2010.

Identifying human settlements in remotely-sensed data: The automated production of maps of human settlement from recent satellite images is essential to studies of urbanization and population movement. The spectral and spatial resolution of such imagery is high enough for accurate identification of human settlements, but we need to process vast amounts of data quickly. We proposed using a multi-level approach that started with simple, but fast, techniques at the lowest level, and progressively moved to more complex approaches as we reduced the size of the data that required processing. We demonstrated our approach using IKONOS 4-band and panchromatic images.
Select publications (available from Google Scholar):
- Sengupta, S. K., C. Kamath, D. Poland, J. Futterman, “Detecting human settlements in Satellite Images,” Proceedings, Optical Engineering at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, SPIE Photonics West, Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, San Jose, January 2003.
- Kamath, C., S. Sengupta, D. Poland, and J. Futterman, “On the use of machine vision techniques to detect human settlements in satellite images, Proceedings, Image Processing: Algorithms and Systems II, SPIE Electronic Imaging, San Jose, January 2003. UCRL-JC-150218.