Figure 1 - Nose Hill Slopes

Topography map of Nose Hill and Area of Study

Nose Hill is the largest natural area urban park in Canada with a size of 1127 hectares.  It is regarded as a special place, where Calgarians can experience a natural prairie in their own backyard.  It is located in Northwest Calgary, 15 minutes from downtown.   Native grasslands make up almost 40% of Nose Hill Park and it is home to over 130 bird species and 25 mammals.  Approximately 5500 people visit Nose Hill Park each week during the summer months.  Most visitors are dog walkers, cyclists, or hikers.  Design studies, environmental factors, and most importantly the feasibility of wind turbines on Nose Hill must all be considered for this experiment.

From Figure 1, the dark green areas are at the highest elevations.  As you will learn later on, the higher you are, the windier it is.  Also, this area is the flattest region on Nose Hill, which takes up about 1/3 of the land.  These two characteristics would increase the feasibility of establishing wind turbines.  Figure 2 also shows the slopes of Nose Hill. The red dot represents the area that was chosen to collect data for the physics lab.