Wind turbine turbulence. What are the micro-climate effects?

Nov 7, 2011

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—Anthony Watts, Watts up with That? (4/28/11).  Editor’s comment:  The following text is adapted from Watts’s note.

I got wind of this photo, below, via the Wakey Wakey thread.

Photographer Christian Steiness. The above photograph shows the turbulence field behind the Horns Rev 1 offshore wind turbines. Unique meteorological conditions on 12 February 2008 at 1300 hours resulted in the wind turbines creating condensation (i.e. clouds) of the very humid air, thus making it possible to see the turbulence pattern behind the wind turbines.

The above photo appears to be a real world effect of the turbulence model, below.

It seems the turbulence caused by the wind turbines can be a catalyst for cloud formation.

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Comment by Willem Post (MS Mechanical Engineering):  “The air, with a relative humidity close to its condensation point, is cooled by the wind turbine as it removes energy from the air.  The result is cloud formation many miles downstream of the wind turbines.”

 

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