Improved prognostic models of wind turbine wakes are essential to improved design of offshore wind farms to maximized power production and minimize turbine fatigue loading. This paper describes the Virtual Wake Laboratory, an online open access resource that provides meteorological and wind farm data for use in wake characterization and wake model evaluation exercises. Specific examples of the types of analyses that can be conducted using these data are given, along with recommendations regarding appropriate metrics to be applied and considerations for wake model evaluation. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.