Lu, HaoPorte-Agel, Fernando2015-09-282015-09-282015-09-28201510.1007/s10546-015-0049-1https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/118671WOS:000360668900005With the rapid growth in the number of wind turbines installed worldwide, a demand exists for a clear understanding of how wind farms modify land-atmosphere exchanges. Here, we conduct three-dimensional large-eddy simulations to investigate the impact of wind farms on a convective atmospheric boundary layer. Surface temperature and heat flux are determined using a surface thermal energy balance approach, coupled with the solution of a three-dimensional heat equation in the soil. We study several cases of aligned and staggered wind farms with different streamwise and spanwise spacings. The farms consist of Siemens SWT-2.3-93 wind turbines. Results reveal that, in the presence of wind turbines, the stability of the atmospheric boundary layer is modified, the boundary-layer height is increased, and the magnitude of the surface heat flux is slightly reduced. Results also show an increase in land-surface temperature, a slight reduction in the vertically-integrated temperature, and a heterogeneous spatial distribution of the surface heat flux.Convective atmospheric boundary layerLarge-eddy simulationWind farmtext::journal::journal article::research article