In the present work a computation of wind shear coefficients (WSCs) based on 1-h measured wind data has been performed by three stations located over coastal sites in Southern Italy, i.e., Brindisi (BR), Portoscuso (PS) and Termini Imerese (TI). Wind observations have been collected through a 6-year period (January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2002) by wind mast recording at the same two sensor heights (i.e., 10 and 50 m AGL), thus enabling a proper wind profile analysis. WSC overall mean values were found to be 0.271 at BR, 0.232 at PS, and 0.150 at TI. In addition, a detailed analysis has been carried out to describe the WSC yearly, monthly and diurnal variation, as well as by wind direction. The characteristics of z(0) surface roughness length have been also investigated as an estimate for neutral stability conditions only, resulting in overall mean values of 0.526 m at BR, 0.287 m at PS, and 0.027 m at TI. The z(0) variation by year, month and hour of the day, as well as by wind direction, has been analysed, too. The European "Corine Land Cover 2000" classification of the study areas has been employed to deeply investigate the land use influence on both WSC and z(0) characteristics as a function of wind direction. Based on temperature and pressure surface measurements, the computation of site-specific mean air density as well as monthly variation has been also performed. Site-related 50-m wind resource has been assessed by means of wind roses and wind speed frequency distributions, as well as Weibull's parameters. The potential turbine-converted wind energy yield has been also investigated, enabling to detect, for each site, the most suitable 50-m hub height turbine model regardless of its rated power. Furthermore, a number of comparisons have been made to assess the discrepancy in 50-m energy yield resulting if using data extrapolated from 10 m, both with 0.143 default and overall mean WSC value, instead of actually 50-m measured data. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.