Offshore Wind Farms and Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

Offshore wind has been expanding rapidly in the past decade, with over 50 GW of global installed capacity as of 2022, corresponding to a growth by a factor of 10 in 10 years. Offshore wind farms tend to have taller and larger turbines, higher installed capacity, and larger spacing and areal extent than onshore. The wakes of offshore wind farms can travel several tens of kilometers downwind horizontally while also expanding downward to the ocean surface and upward to the upper parts of the marine boundary layer and beyond. Although the direct impacts of offshore wind farms on the surrounding environment and on the climate are not expected to be large on average, especially when compared with the long-term climate and health indirect benefits of wind energy as an alternative to fossil and fissile fuels, undesirable consequences may occur locally and/or occasionally, such as changes in turbulence, ocean surface stress, precipitation, or fluxes of heat, momentum, and moisture. On the other hand, climate change may alter local atmospheric conditions relevant to offshore wind energy, for example reducing or increasing wind speed, temperature, and humidity, and affecting vertical fluxes and exchanges between air and the surface of the sea. In this Special Issue, we invite papers that explore the issue of potential impacts of offshore wind energy on the climate and vice versa, including, for example:

• Observations of offshore wind farm wakes, including field measurements with traditional sensors, lidars, or remote sensing;
• Simulations of offshore wind farm wakes, from the fine-scale (e.g., large-eddy simulation) to the meso- and synoptic-scales;
• Theoretical or analytical formulations of offshore wind farm wakes, including wake superposition;
• Wind farm parameterizations for numerical weather prediction models;
• Climate change mitigation potential of offshore wind energy;
• Current and expected climatic trends in wind speed and other meteorological variables relevant to offshore wind.

Prof. Dr. Cristina L. Archer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• offshore wind
• wind farm wakes
• climate change
• environmental impact