Diurnal surface heat-flux forcing controls wind-farm performance, blockage, and gravity-wave formation

Pasupula, M.; Selvatici, D.; Kasper, J.H.; Stevens, R.J.A.M.

doi:10.1063/5.0334039

Publication 126 · Atmospheric turbulence

Diurnal surface heat-flux forcing controls wind-farm performance, blockage, and gravity-wave formation

M. Pasupula, D. Selvatici, J.H. Kasper, R.J.A.M. Stevens, J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 18, 043303 (2026).

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Main finding

Diurnal surface heating and cooling change wind-farm performance through coupled changes in stability, boundary-layer depth, jets and momentum transport. The simulated response cannot be reduced to an isolated heat-flux coefficient or universal seasonal ranking.

Capacity factor and normalised power across a diurnal cycle in four seasons — **How to read the figure.** Wind farm capacity factor (a) and normalised power (b) through a full diurnal cycle in autumn, winter, spring and summer, with night shaded. The seasonal curves cross rather than holding a fixed order, so there is no universal seasonal ranking and no isolated heat-flux coefficient that summarises the response. The swing across each day is the atmospheric state changing, not the turbines. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 6. M. Pasupula et al. (2026). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Diurnal stability changes alter momentum entrainment, blockage, wave response, and wake recovery, so farm performance cannot be inferred from surface heat flux alone.

Research context

Related work on low-frequency temporal variability includes Low-frequency wind speed variations and their impact on wind… (read the finding) and Modeling Multiscale Atmospheric Interactions in Wind-Farm Power Spectra (read the finding). Slow wake recovery and low turbulence behind wind farms… (read the finding) addresses mesoscale wake recovery.

View in the complete publication list Related atmospheric boundary layer research