HR: 0830h
AN: A31C-0059    [PDF]
TI: Can Large Windfarms Affect Local Meteorology?
AU: * Baidya Roy, S
EM: sroy@princeton.edu
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 United States
AU: Pacala, S W
EM: pacala@princeton.edu
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 United States
AU: Walko, R L
EM: walko@atment.com
AF: ATMET,LLC, PO Box 19195, Boulder, CO 80308 United States
AB: A numerical model was used to explore the possible impacts of large windfarms in the Great Plains region on the local meteorology over synoptic timescales under typical summertime conditions. Wind turbines were approximated as sinks of energy and sources of turbulence. A virtual windfarm was created using an array of such turbines. Results show that windfarms significantly slow down the wind at the turbine hub-height level. Additionally, the turbulence generated by rotors create small-scale eddies that enhance vertical mixing of momentum, heat and scalars usually leading to a warming and drying of the near-surface air and reduced surface sensible heat flux. This effect is most intense in the early morning hours when the hub-height level wind speed is the strongest due to the nocturnal low-level jet. The impact on evapotranspiration is small.
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions
DE: 3379 Turbulence
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting