h a l f b a k e r yExpensive, difficult, slightly dangerous, not particularly effective... I'm on a roll.
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See above for main Idea. This category is about "rain", and if more
ocean water is evaporated, by adding heat to it, then more rain will
fall. So, if we built a well-insulated long-distance heat-transfer
system, we could gather desert heat (say from the Mojave), and move
it to the ocean off
the California coast, thereby evaporating more
water.
Most heat pipes are pretty short
http://www.heatpipe.com/
The needed length of heat pipe, to make this Idea work, is what also makes it Half-Baked. [Vernon, Mar 24 2015]
Synthetic sapphire as a heat-transfer substance
http://link.springe...2FBF00118069#page-1
Relevant to an annotation, but the data here involves very VERY low temperatures. [Vernon, Mar 25 2015]
Black Sapphire
https://www.google....22black+sapphire%22
Could be good for absorbing radiant heat. [Vernon, Mar 25 2015]
Salton Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
[normzone, Mar 25 2015]
Lake Death Valley
Lake_20Death_20Valley
Got yer siphon right here, Cuity pie! [bungston, Mar 25 2015]
[link]
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There's already quite a lot of solar thermal energy delivered
to the Pacific. Might be easier to increase the minimum
height the onshore air has to go over. Force it higher, make
rain more likely. |
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Only by robbing areas further inland. Adding more energy
to the ocean = more total rain. |
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It looks like California's point of easy exit for clouds is
northwards, Oregon has a decent amount of rain,
Washington will probably pay for less. |
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//So, if we built a well-insulated long-distance heat-
transfer system// |
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The atmosphere is already quite a large heat-transfer
system, and there is a lot of it between Mohave and
the California coast. |
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Your heat-pipe is going to be quite impressive to add
anything significant to the overall heat transfer. |
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What about a giant syphon that connects the Pacific Ocean to Death Valley? |
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[MaxwellBuchanan], I agree that the heat pipe needs to
be
a rather significant diameter, but the delivery end is
much
more efficient than the natural situation. The delivery
end
is IN the water, not above it (where heat rises and
mostly
doesn't go into the water). Perhaps, as an alternative
or
variant of this Idea, we try to capture heat above the
ocean and transfer it downward into the ocean? (still
Half-Baked; wrong direction of normal heat-
transference, but not impossible, if heat-conducting
solids are involved) |
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" What about a giant syphon that connects the Pacific Ocean to Death Valley? " |
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We've tried a variant on that idea already, we call it the Salton Sea. |
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