Monitoring and quantifying wind turbine clutter in DWD weather radar measurements

Frech, Michael; Boehm, Annette M.; Tracksdorf, Patrick

doi:10.5194/amt-19-1711-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-1711-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-1711-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

Research article

|

10 Mar 2026

Research article |

| 10 Mar 2026

Monitoring and quantifying wind turbine clutter in DWD weather radar measurements

Michael Frech, Annette M. Boehm, and Patrick Tracksdorf

Model code and software

pyart-1.6.0.zip Jonathan Helmus and Scott Collis https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.2202553.v1

Short summary

Wind turbine clutter (WTC) reduces the accuracy of weather radar measurements, as turbines may now be built closer to radar sites. A dynamic algorithm reliably detects WTC when wind turbine rotor speeds exceed 5 rpm. Beamblockage due to WT in the 5 km range is significant. A wind turbine-free 5 km radius is recommended.