Sediment transport pathways and organic carbon burial impacted by offshore wind farms in shelf seas

Sediment transport pathways and organic carbon burial impacted by offshore wind farms in shelf seas | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sediment transport pathways and organic carbon burial impacted by offshore wind farms in shelf seas Jiayue Chen, Nils Christiansen, Lucas Porz, Corinna Schrum, Wenyan Zhang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7742330/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The rapid expansion of offshore wind farms increasingly impacts ocean environments. Little is known concerning synergistic effects of wind farm infrastructure on large-scale sediment transport and seabed ecosystem functioning. Using a 3D hydro-morphodynamic model integrating wake effects in both the atmosphere and ocean compartments, we assessed wind farm impacts on regional-scale sediment transport and organic carbon sedimentation in the North Sea. Results suggest that wind farms can alter net sediment transport fluxes by up to 30% locally, reduce mud accumulation in established depocenters and create new depocenters through long-term accumulative effects. These shifts are linked to changes in stratification and residual currents, driving the remobilization of up to 1.3 Mt of fine sediment and 0.05 Mt of particulate organic carbon annually. Wind farms also retain ~ 1.5% of annual riverine sediment input to the open ocean, affecting connectivity with nearshore systems like the Wadden Sea. These findings underscore the need to consider the system-wide impacts in marine spatial planning, ecosystem management and protection. Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences/Physical oceanography Earth and environmental sciences/Biogeochemistry/Carbon cycle Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryinformationJ.ChenModelofoffshorewindfarmimpactsonsedimenttransport.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7742330","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":530658755,"identity":"3923dfdd-66c5-40db-93fa-1d869c5306df","order_by":0,"name":"Jiayue 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