Crop Wind Energy Experiment (CWEX): Observations of surface-layer, boundary layer, and mesoscale interactions with a wind farm

While simulations have suggested that wind farms could significantly change surface fluxes of heat, momentum, momentum, moisture, and CO₂ over hundreds of square kilometers, little observational evidence exists to test these predictions. Quantifying the influences of the "turbine layer" is necessary to quantify how surface fluxes are modified and to better forecast energy production by a wind farm.

Changes in fluxes are particularly important in regions of intensely managed agriculture where crop growth and yield are highly dependent on subtle changes in moisture, heat, and CO₂. Furthermore, speculations abound about the possible mesoscale consequences of boundary layer changes that are produced by wind farms. To address the lack of observations to answer these questions, we developed the Crop Wind Energy Experiment (CWEX) as a multiagency, multiuniversity field program in central Iowa.