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Large Wind and Solar Farms in the Sahara Would Increase Heat, Rain, Vegetation

posted by mrpg on Friday September 07 2018, @04:32AM   
from the and-later-what? dept.

Bytram (from IRC) writes:

ScienceDaily:

Wind and solar farms are known to have local effects on heat, humidity and other factors that may be beneficial -- or detrimental -- to the regions in which they are situated. A new climate-modeling study finds that a massive wind and solar installation in the Sahara Desert and neighboring Sahel would increase local temperature, precipitation and vegetation. Overall, the researchers report, the effects would likely benefit the region.

The study, reported in the journal Science, is among the first to model the climate effects of wind and solar installations while taking into account how vegetation responds to changes in heat and precipitation, said lead author Yan Li, a postdoctoral researcher in natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois.

"Previous modeling studies have shown that large-scale wind and solar farms can produce significant climate change at continental scales," Li said. "But the lack of vegetation feedbacks could make the modeled climate impacts very different from their actual behavior.

Also at BBC.

Journal Reference:
Yan Li, Eugenia Kalnay, Safa Motesharrei, Jorge Rivas, Fred Kucharski, Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, Eviatar Bach, Ning Zeng. Climate model shows large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara increase rain and vegetation. Science, 2018; 361 (6406): 1019 DOI: 10.1126/science.aar5629

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Original Submission

• Re:Rain? Re:Rain? (Score: 3, Informative) by rigrig on Friday September 07 2018, @10:24AM (1 child)

  by rigrig (5129) <soylentnews@tubul.net> on Friday September 07 2018, @10:24AM (#731692) Homepage

  Good thing people actually researched this then:

  This positive feedback is established through different mechanisms for wind and solar farms.
  For wind farms, the higher surface roughness strengthens low-level convergence, leading to precipitation increase in the Sahara (27 [sciencemag.org]).
  For solar farms, the decreased albedo associated with solar panels (i.e., the lower effective albedo of solar panels compared with the sand in the Sahara) results in more absorption of solar radiation and, hence, surface warming, which leads to low pressure at the surface, as well as convergence, rising motion, and consequently, more precipitation (23, [sciencemag.org]28 [sciencemag.org]).

  Or with proper anecdotal evidence: (instead of all this sciency stuff in the actual report)

  Its been my observation that it takes elevation ( mountain ranges ) to effect the pressure and temperature changes needed to wring the water which was obtained from the ocean out of the air.

  I live in the Netherlands, famous for its flatness, and it rains here all the time. In fact, it rained on me this very morning!

  --
  No one remembers the singer.

  Parent

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• Re:Rain? (Score: 3, Funny) by coolgopher on Friday September 07 2018, @10:52AM

  by coolgopher (1157) on Friday September 07 2018, @10:52AM (#731695)

  In fact, it rained on me this very morning!

  Bah, anecdotal evidence. Besides, you're below sea level anyway so it was probably just spray from a breaker! ;)

  Parent