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Resource Documents: Meteorology (35 items)
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Wind turbine wakes can impact down-wind vegetation greenness
Author: Diffendorfer, Jay; Vanderhoof, Melanie; and Ancona, Zach
Abstract—Global wind energy has expanded 5-fold since 2010 and is predicted to expand another 8–10-fold over the next 30 years. Wakes generated by wind turbines can alter downwind microclimates and potentially downwind vegetation. However, the design of past studies has made it difficult to isolate the impact of wake effects on vegetation from land cover change. We used hourly wind data to model wake and non-wake zones around 17 wind facilities across the U.S. and compared remotely-sensed vegetation greenness in . . .
More »Observed Thermal Impacts of Wind Farms Over Northern Illinois
Author: Slawsky, Lauren; Baidya Roy, Somnath; et al.
Abstract – This paper assesses impacts of three wind farms in northern Illinois using land surface temperature (LST) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites for the period 2003–2013. Changes in LST between two periods (before and after construction of the wind turbines) and between wind farm pixels and nearby non-wind-farm pixels are quantified. An areal mean increase in LST by 0.18–0.39 °C is observed at nighttime over the wind farms, with . . .
More »Spatiotemporal structure of wind farm–atmospheric boundary layer interactions
Author: Cervarich, Michael; Baidya Roy, Somnath; and Zhou, Liming
Abstract – Observations and modelling studies show that wind farms can alter their local microclimate. This study examines the effect of real-world wind farms on land surface temperatures in West Central Texas using the Weather Research and Forecasting model under realistic boundary conditions. Three wind turbine parameterizations, including two developed in this study, are used for model sensitivity experiments. The simulated effects of wind farms on temperatures match the spatial patterns observed in satellite data but are weaker in magnitude. The . . .
More »Simulating impacts of wind farms on local hydrometeorology
Author: Baidya Roy, Somnath
ABSTRACT – Wind power is one of the fastest growing energy sources in the world, most of the growth being in large wind farms that are often located on agricultural land near residential communities. This study explores the possible impacts of such wind farms on local hydrometeorology using a mesoscale model equipped with a rotor parameterization based on data from a commercial wind turbine. Results show that wind farms significantly affect near-surface air temperature and humidity as well as surface sensible . . .
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