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Windmills warm the earth at night

24.05.2012

Scientists have discovered an unexpected effect of wind farms: at night they trap heat and warm the earth.

Observations made with the MODIS instruments of NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have shown that large wind farms in some areas of the United States affect the temperature of the Earth's surface. In particular, in the vicinity of a large wind farm in western Texas, the researchers found an average nighttime warming of 0,72 degrees Celsius. After analyzing the observational data for 10 years, scientists came to the conclusion that it was the windmills that caused a small but noticeable increase in temperature.

This effect is most likely caused by turbulence: the blades of windmills trap warm air and direct it towards the ground. Thus, the soil is slightly warmer near the wind power plants, and this is especially noticeable at night.

So far, the research is local. The temperature of the land surface depends on changes in air temperature, type of vegetation cover and terrain. In some regions, the temperature of the earth's surface varies greatly depending on the time of day, while the air temperature fluctuates in a much smaller range.

In Texas, surface temperatures typically drop faster than air temperatures after sunset. But windmills create eddies of thermal air rising from the surface and increase the temperature near the wind farm. The researchers expected to see the opposite effect during the day - a slight cooling. However, MODIS data show that even during the day wind turbines create a small local warming.

The new data has value for climate modeling and for agriculture. Warming of even 1-2 degrees can favorably affect the growth of crops.

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The longest and longest lightning 26.09.2016

The Committee of Experts of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) approved two world records for electrical spark discharges in the atmosphere: the longest lightning - more than 300 km - was recorded in 2007 in Oklahoma in the USA, and the longest in time - more than 7,7 seconds - August 30, 2012 in the Provence - Alpes - Cote d'Azur region in southern France.

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The WMO emphasizes that the official registration of lightning records indicates "the ongoing improvement of the regional lightning observation system, as well as measuring instruments."

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