Not feel the cold night air in parts of Texas. In just one decade, the local temperature rise of almost 1 degree Celsius, along with a growing number of wind turbines were erected.
The air near the ground surface is usually a much cooler when the sun goes down. At that time, the Earth becomes cooler.
But, at the "ranch" big wind, the movement of warm air mixing turbine which is higher in the atmosphere, and promote the overall temperature rise.
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| Wind farms can cause a rise in temperature, found a study in Nature. (Picture from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) |
Satellite data over a wide area in Texas, which is now filled by the four largest wind farms in the world, found that for more than a decade of temperature in the region rose by almost 1 degree Celsius.
Rising temperatures could lead to long-term effects on wildlife in the area adjacent to large wind farms. It could also affect regional weather patterns when the warmer regions affect cloud formation, and even wind speed.
The environmental impact of wind turbine development is very surprising. During this wind turbine is considered as a producer of environmentally friendly energy alternative.
At present, China reportedly set up 36 wind turbines each day. Texas is the largest producer of wind power in the United States.
Zhou Liming, a faculty member in the Department of Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of New York, said the research the environmental impact of wind turbines that still need further research, particularly highlighting the influence of new technologies in the wider environment.
"Wind energy is one energy source of the fastest growing in the world," said Zhou, who heads the research team. "U.S. wind industry experienced very rapid expansion of capacity in recent years."
When a change of wind energy into electricity, wind turbines modify the surface of air exchange and air in the atmosphere, as well as energy transfer, mass momentum, and moisture in the atmosphere. "This change, if it takes place in an area that is large enough, it will likely cause a noticeable impact on local weather and climate or regional," he said.
Research published in the journal Nature found a significant warming trend up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade, especially at night. These temperature changes often occur in the area of wind farms than in the free zone in the vicinity of wind farms.
The team is also studying satellite data that show the soil surface temperatures in western and central Texas.
"Spatial patterns of geographic distribution of heating it to resemble wind turbines," said Zhou. "Temperatures above ground level at the wind farm from year to year showed a persistent trend increase from 2003 to 2011. This is consistent with an increasing number of wind turbines operating at the time."
However, Zhou showed the most extreme changes take place only at night. Overall temperature change is likely much smaller. Change is also much smaller than the changes expected to occur due to a number of other factors, such as global warming caused by human activity.
"Overall, the warming effect of these studies reported localized and relatively small when compared to earth's surface temperature changes from year to year," he said.
In his report, researchers stated although there is debate over the possible impact of wind farms on the climate and weather on regional to global scale, these modeling studies agree that wind turbines can affect significantly the local scale meteorology.
Steven Sherwood, Director of the Center for Climate Change Research at the University of New South Wales, to assess the research was pretty solid.
"The findings make sense, because at night the land becomes much colder than the air that was several hundred feet above the ground," he said. "Wind Farm generate small turbulence near the ground surface, which causes the cold air and hot mix so the soil can not be cooled properly."
Sherwood said the strategy to warm the soil surface with a mild turbulence motions such as those generated by wind turbines used by fruit growers. They flew by helicopter over the orchard to combat attacks on the morning frost that can damage the fruit." *** [TELEGRAPH | TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 3890]
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