Wind farm effect on grassland vegetation due to its influence on the range, intensity and variation of wind direction

Abstract

Utilizing MOD13Q1-NDVI data from 2000 to 2014, vegetation change in a 50 km buffer area around the Huitengliang wind farm, Inner Mongolia, was analyzed. Combining meteorological data in this analysis, the impact of wind direction on vegetation growth was discussed. Compared with the construction phase (2000–2008), the operation phase (2008–2014) has a more obvious impact on the growth of vegetation. However, the results showed that vegetation impact was uneven: (1) a zone 30–40 km from the center of the wind farm, on the windward side, is likely to be the area of greatest vegetation impact from the wind farm; (2) the proportion of vegetation restoration in the windward/leeward areas, especially in the windward area, is much higher than in the buffer or farm areas; (3) within the wind farm area, the wind farm is not conducive to vegetation growth, while it is helpful to vegetation growth in windward/leeward area.