Tuesday, February 28, 2012

When is a rose not a rose.....!

When it's a Wind Rose. I walk past this sculpture near the ocean at least twice a week and for the first time yesterday I actually 'looked' at it and wondered a) what it was called and b) who created it! The words read: 'THIS WIND ROSE REPRESENTS AVERAGE WIND VELOCITY RECORDED DAILY AT 3PM' and around the base are the compass points N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, N, NW.   I'm guessing that the positioning and the curve and size of the centre opening of the sculpture is vitally important, but even reading the working description in the above link it's as clear as 'mud' to me (come on, it's nothing at all to do with being blonde haha!). I was wondering if anyone has seen a Wind Rose (not necessarily in  this particular design) and can perhaps in 'non technical' terms make it all a little clearer! I hope you have a less puzzling day than mine was trying to figure this out.....!

44 comments:

  1. I know all about it, but I don't want to show off, especially as no one else has had time to comment ;-)

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  2. I'll come back to read what Andrew has to say!! And, Grace, I've never seen anything like this, but how interesting!! I can't wait to find out more about it! Great captures!! Hope your week is off to a great start!

    Sylvia

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  3. Well, I can't help you there. Had I found this first, my reaction would have been the same as yours ;-) Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)

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  4. great shots and what an interesting sculpture...love the shape and view from the opening! super shots!

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  5. I love the look of this sculpture.

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  6. very cool. Brancusi would be pleased


    Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral

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  7. I love the piece visually but will wait for someone to explain its function!

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  8. when you find out how it works, it will be interesting to know! beautiful form, complicated function!

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  9. It is pretty easy, Grace. You just take the fourth derivative of the wind 's cosign, expressed in nautical knots per hour, and take that to the nth power, in which n is a number between one and four, with n representing the direction of the wind, using Gregorian notation.

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  10. (Very funny Jack!)It looks to me like it might SING!!!

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  11. I never heard of the term so I googled it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_rose. Thank you - I learned something today.

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  12. Bonza sculpture that reminds me of a teardrop :-).

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  13. I don't know about the term "Wind Rose" but I do know that it is a beautiful piece of art! Very nice.

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  14. une belle sculpture qui fait penser a un voilier

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  15. nice shots, and I haven't heard this term before either, so am off to Google.

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  16. Such things are a device to make sculptors rich.

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  17. Mud you said? Lol... It looks like a sail, very nice. And I love your top shot. Did you receive my email?

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  18. The sculpture is beautiful, but your image at the top is just SUPERB!
    A real "wow-effect"!!

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  19. A wind rose is a graphic tool used by meteorologists to give a succinct view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location. Compiling a wind rose is one of the preliminary steps taken in constructing airport runways, as aircraft perform their best take-offs and landings pointing into the wind.

    Does that make it clearer or simply more mysterious?

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  20. Does it hum when the wind blows? It reminds me of the "wind organ" near the South pier at Blackpool.

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  21. It's been a very educational day today! After some googling, the term is known in the UK but it's not used much. It's been a generally very windy last 6 mths - I guess folks are more concerned with the amount rather than the direction (strong winds tend to come from the west though).

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  22. WE use the same name for that. Vindros.

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  23. It looks like a peice of sculpture based on a sail to me- not heard of a wind rose before. Wonderful photos anyway Grace.

    Chrissy from Manchester: a photo a day at Mancunian Wave

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  24. Well, you have certainly made us all curious, and scurry about looking for an answer! Great job...maybe this is how education should happen! Love the photographs, and the comments are clever and amusing!

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  25. I would say exactly the same than Jack! :o))
    Anyway, I like the sculpture, I find it very beautiful!

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  26. I have no clue, but I like the sculpture.

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  27. Having read everyone's comments I am none the wiser Grace. However, I love the sculpture, and the blue of the tiles. Wonderful shot.

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  28. anyways, it's an interesting piece.
    for me, it kind of looks like a petal. ^0^
    nice find Grace!

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  29. I have not heard of a wind rose, but love the top shot Grace.

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  30. Very good shots, especially the first! Arianna

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  31. Have never seen it or heard about it, where is it Grace? It does look beautiful though!

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  32. I deeply distrust art in need of an explanation, but this is very cute!

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  33. Whatever it means, it is a gorgeous sculpture, and your first shot is amazing.

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  34. I've not seen one of these before but I like it a lot. I'm not gonna worry how it all works, though. I'm too old.

    Re golf carts: More of the parade coming in the coming days!

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  35. Nice to see through this sculpture.. haha...
    (read: your first shot is fantastic)
    OK, the sculpture itself is also very beautiful.

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  36. Great shots, Grace. No idea what a wind rose is, but as abstract sculpture, the piece is lovely.

    Maybe this helps:
    http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/wind/wind_rose.shtml

    A 3D representation of such a graph?

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  37. Wonderful to something practical with an artistic touch.
    Love you shots.

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  38. Very nice shot. "Ciao" from Italy!

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  39. The sculpture is very cool and the composition on top very clever.

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  40. Excellent perspective.
    Regards from Thessaloniki.
    kostas

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  41. That top pic is simply awesome, Grace. Lovely job.

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