The influence of local winds on wind power characteristics in a High Arctic valley

Henkies, Matthias; Høyland, Knut Vilhelm; Shestov, Aleksey; Sjöblom, Anna

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2395-2025

Articles | Volume 10, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2395-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2395-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 10

Research article

|

24 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 24 Oct 2025

The influence of local winds on wind power characteristics in a High Arctic valley

Matthias Henkies, Knut Vilhelm Høyland, Aleksey Shestov, and Anna Sjöblom

Data sets

Sodar measurements in Adventdalen, Svalbard, 2015-2017 M. Henkies et al. https://doi.org/10.21343/HRJ5-0J70

Wind lidar measurements in Adventdalen, Svalbard, 2020 M. Henkies et al. https://doi.org/10.21343/9PJF-BZ59

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/CDS.BD0915C6

Arctic regional reanalysis on single levels from 1991 to present H. Schyberg et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/CDS.713858F6

Arctic regional reanalysis on height levels from 1991 to present H. Schyberg et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/CDS.8679900D

Short summary

For wind energy in the Arctic, a better understanding of wind characteristics is necessary. Observations from a valley in Svalbard show that local, thermally driven valley winds are frequent. They increase the average wind speed and reduce the wind variability in this valley, which is not reproduced well by common numerical model products. The wind characteristics are advantageous for wind power in valleys.