We have two areas in California that kind of bear out the proof of water vapor being an insulator to moderate climate.
We have the Central Valley stretching from Redding all the way down to the pass over The Grapevine pass and Imperial Valley with the Salton Sea at it's lowest spot.
Before the extensive agriculture in those two areas the desert nights were cold even when the days were blistering hot. This is due to the dry air not being able to hold heat as it radiates back into space.
Now, those areas around agriculture have much moister nights so the heat dissipates much more slowly at night and builds up slower during the day. CO2 is a much smaller percentage of this mix so it's mostly water vapor that is insulating the heat and moderating the local climate.
This is something you really don't need sensitive equipment to know about as you can simply drive through these areas and notice the difference. I can clearly remember camping out in the Central Valley as a child when my Grandfather took me there to set out bee apiaries. I call it camping not because that's actually what we were doing. Basically, Grandpa would drive up there with a load of bees and kick my brother and I out of the truck to sleep out on the ground until near sunrise. It was cold and miserable and then by the time the sun came up and the day was truly started the temps would heat up to around 120 degrees during the day. Same for Imperial Valley but today as agriculture has greatly expanded since I was a kid you can drop down out of the desert on I10 and feel the heat and moisture once you drop down into the low farm areas.
Evaporation has a really huge effect on temp, indeed. Has a much higher effect than carbon dioxide, that’s for damned sure. I wish we would create more inland lakes to help our climate in the US. I heard one guy up for governor in Utah wanted to build hydroelectric pumps to refill old salk lakes- lower dust pollution and increase local habitability, while creating green power while other systems are offline... pumps would run when power excesses are had, and would allow flow downhill at night when solar farms are not working. Sometimes I wish the sahara got its old sea back. Imagine the increased habitability there? And increased precipitation for downwind mountain ranges.... ah well There a much bigger environmental no nos than carbon emissions, such as the disappearance of bugs, Amphibians etc., the pollution of water with harder to remove substances (endocrine disruptors that affect frogs included), Disruption of aquifers etc due to neglect by 3rd party environmental agencies etc. Phosphate fertilizer runoff, the collapse of Florida due to the aluminum industry byproducts, cafos that are irresponsible, the list goes on.... so many examples of real world issues that are damaging and preventable. Epa literally prevents responsible private companies from dredging and removIng mercury from streams (so they can do it instead and monopolize gold panning) in california. Shit like this not being talked about enough just makes me see it is all a cash grab and attempt to restrict the mobility of class.
I totally agree with you on every point, especially agriculture run off of fertilizers and pesticides.
I've had an idea for a long time and I think there's other people who have had this same idea.
Take a look at topography map of California and down into the Sea of Cortez by San Felipe in Baja Mexico Norte.
What if a conduit was created from San Felipe and all the way to Death Valley.
There's only two things there that are of much importance. An old village of Native Americans who could be moved to a better location upstream and a spring with a species of rare fish that exists only there. So, why not just remove the fish and propagate them in a better situation?
The salty water from Sea of Cortez could be used for sea salt and hydro electric. The huge expanse of water would create moisture to green up the area east of the lake and moderate the weather in the basin.
Absolutely! All inland deserts below sea level could have waterways made with the ability to “close” and “open” them to power generation. Hell if you wanted even the straights of inland seas could have this implemented with locks put in place ro allow ship travel. Salt and power production out of desert space, and the sea level rise doomers get to be happy about lowering sea level. What’s not to like? Local weather improved, new resorts built along new shores, etc... But nooooo we get taxes paying for wars and for kids to get educated about cutting their dicks off.
and would allow flow downhill at night when solar farms are not working
Or just build the lakes to run a nuclear power plant, instead of making a Rube Goldberg-style contraption scheme to try and produce electricity?
Whatever you use the lakes for, they would improve local climates across the US. You could have your own private island on one where you get to hunt lucky lottery-winning pedophiles, just make sure you invite me or record it so I can watch while I eat some popcorn after a hard day’s work.
(post is archived)