Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms
Hurricane Harvey brought to the Texas coast possibly the heaviest rain ever recorded in US history, which then caused flooding at unprecedented levels. Previous studies have shown that large arrays of hypothetical offshore wind farms can extract kinetic energy from a hurricane and thus reduce the wi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aad245 |
| _version_ | 1797748219472510976 |
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| author | Yang Pan Chi Yan Cristina L Archer |
| author_facet | Yang Pan Chi Yan Cristina L Archer |
| author_sort | Yang Pan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hurricane Harvey brought to the Texas coast possibly the heaviest rain ever recorded in US history, which then caused flooding at unprecedented levels. Previous studies have shown that large arrays of hypothetical offshore wind farms can extract kinetic energy from a hurricane and thus reduce the wind and storm surge. This study quantitatively tests whether the hypothetical offshore turbines may also affect precipitation patterns. The Weather Research Forecast model is employed to model Harvey and the offshore wind farms are parameterized as elevated drag and turbulent kinetic energy sources. Model results indicate that the offshore wind farms have a strong impact on the distribution of accumulated precipitation, with an obvious decrease onshore downstream of the wind farms, and an increase in offshore areas, upstream of or within the wind farms. Compared with the control case with no wind turbines, increased horizontal wind divergence and lower vertical velocity are found where precipitation is reduced onshore, whereas increased horizontal wind convergence and higher vertical velocity occur upstream of or within the offshore wind farms. The sensitivity to the size of the offshore array, inter-turbine spacing, and the details of the wind farm parameterization are assessed. The results suggest that large arrays of offshore wind turbines can effectively protect the coast from heavy rain during hurricanes and that smart layouts with fewer turbines over smaller areas can be almost as effective as those with more turbines over larger areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:01:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-91108745124e44e2a131eaced1dbb7a8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:01:48Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-91108745124e44e2a131eaced1dbb7a82023-08-09T14:36:26ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262018-01-0113808400710.1088/1748-9326/aad245Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farmsYang Pan0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9139-5770Chi Yan1Cristina L Archer2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7837-7575College of Earth , Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, United States of AmericaCollege of Earth , Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, United States of AmericaCollege of Earth , Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, United States of America; Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.Hurricane Harvey brought to the Texas coast possibly the heaviest rain ever recorded in US history, which then caused flooding at unprecedented levels. Previous studies have shown that large arrays of hypothetical offshore wind farms can extract kinetic energy from a hurricane and thus reduce the wind and storm surge. This study quantitatively tests whether the hypothetical offshore turbines may also affect precipitation patterns. The Weather Research Forecast model is employed to model Harvey and the offshore wind farms are parameterized as elevated drag and turbulent kinetic energy sources. Model results indicate that the offshore wind farms have a strong impact on the distribution of accumulated precipitation, with an obvious decrease onshore downstream of the wind farms, and an increase in offshore areas, upstream of or within the wind farms. Compared with the control case with no wind turbines, increased horizontal wind divergence and lower vertical velocity are found where precipitation is reduced onshore, whereas increased horizontal wind convergence and higher vertical velocity occur upstream of or within the offshore wind farms. The sensitivity to the size of the offshore array, inter-turbine spacing, and the details of the wind farm parameterization are assessed. The results suggest that large arrays of offshore wind turbines can effectively protect the coast from heavy rain during hurricanes and that smart layouts with fewer turbines over smaller areas can be almost as effective as those with more turbines over larger areas.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aad245offshore wind farmsWRFprecipitationHarvey |
| spellingShingle | Yang Pan Chi Yan Cristina L Archer Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms Environmental Research Letters offshore wind farms WRF precipitation Harvey |
| title | Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms |
| title_full | Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms |
| title_fullStr | Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms |
| title_short | Precipitation reduction during Hurricane Harvey with simulated offshore wind farms |
| title_sort | precipitation reduction during hurricane harvey with simulated offshore wind farms |
| topic | offshore wind farms WRF precipitation Harvey |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aad245 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yangpan precipitationreductionduringhurricaneharveywithsimulatedoffshorewindfarms AT chiyan precipitationreductionduringhurricaneharveywithsimulatedoffshorewindfarms AT cristinalarcher precipitationreductionduringhurricaneharveywithsimulatedoffshorewindfarms |