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Sea surface warming and ocean-to-atmosphere feedback driven by large-scale offshore wind farms under seasonally stratified conditions
Author: | Meteorology, U.S.
Abstract:
Offshore wind farms may induce changes in the upper ocean and near-surface atmosphere through coupled ocean-atmosphere feedbacks. Yet, the role of air-sea interactions mediated by offshore wind farms remains poorly understood. Using fully coupled ocean-atmosphere-wave model simulations for seasonally stratified conditions along the US East Coast, we show that simulated cumulative reductions in wind stress due to large-scale wind farm clusters lead to sea surface warming of 0.3° to 0.4°C and a shallower mixed layer. This warming drives upward heat fluxes, destabilizing the atmospheric boundary layer and enhancing wind stress, which partially offsets wake-induced wind deficits. These wake-ocean interactions influence near-surface meteorology and air-sea fluxes, suggesting that a coupled modeling approach may be necessary for assessing potential oceanographic impacts of offshore wind developments. However, ocean coupling exerts limited influence on winds at turbine-relevant heights or within downstream wakes, resulting in minimal impact on long-term energy. These findings suggest that models without ocean coupling may be adequate for wind energy applications.
Hyodae Seo, César Sauvage, Christoph Renkl, Julie K. Lundquist, and Anthony Kirincich
University of Hawai’i, Mānoa, Honolulu (Seo, Sauvage)
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts (Seo, Sauvage, Renkl, Kirincich)
University of Bonn, Germany (Renkl)
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (Lundquist)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado (Lundquist)
Science Advances, 5 Nov 2025, Vol 11, Issue 45
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adw7603
Download original document: “Sea surface warming and ocean-to-atmosphere feedback driven by large-scale offshore wind farms under seasonally stratified conditions”
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Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
