Impact of Wind Turbines on Near-Surface Microclimate and Soil Moisture Under Different Stability Regimes

Abstract The widespread deployment of wind-energy systems locally alters near-surface turbulent transport processes of energy, affecting temperatures and soil moisture. This study, for the first time, systematically investigates the influence of wind turbines on micro-meteorological conditions using large-eddy simulations across a range of atmospheric stability regimes. Simulations were conducted with and without wind turbines to systematically quantify differences in air temperature, surface temperature, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and soil moisture. The results show that turbine effects are strongly influenced by atmospheric stability. Under daytime strongly unstable conditions, turbines induced 0.06 K of modest air temperature cooling and reduced sensible heat flux by 6.97 W m −2 . In contrast, strongly stable night-time conditions exhibited pronounced air temperature warming of 0.695 K, widespread increases in surface temperature of 0.76 K, and enhanced soil moisture depletion of around 2.09 × 10 –3 % (v/v). The latent heat flux generally increased in unstable regimes, but our result shows an enhancement also under strongly stable conditions, which is 1.72 W m −2 , consistent with an average higher reduction of soil moisture. The results show the friction velocity at 4 m increased by up to 0.073 m s⁻ 1 under stable conditions, but showed slight reductions (around 0.029 m s⁻ 1 ) under strongly unstable conditions. The findings highlight that stability transitions, particularly from strongly stable to unstable states, play a critical role in shaping surface warming, energy fluxes, and soil moisture responses. These insights provide a basis for assessing potential agricultural implications of wind energy development.