Evaluation of annual radiation and windiness over a playa: possibility of harvesting the solar and wind energies

Malek, Esmaiel; Biltoft, Christopher A.; Klewicki, Joseph; Giles, B.

doi:10.1006/jare.2002.1008

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Despite having a shallow water table (about 60 cm) and high volumetric soil moisture content of about 30% (averaged throughout the year 2000), due to the high salinity of the playa soil, actual evaporation did not exceed more that 2.3 mm day −1 , even after a rainy event (about 26 mm) in August 2000. Consistent wind (with an average of 344 km day −1 ) and a huge amount of incoming solar radiation (6937.7 MJ m −2 year −1 ) over this playa indicates the suitability of this area for harvesting renewable solar and wind energies (Malek et al, 2002), which could help in reducing environmental pollution and also reduce the operational and maintenance costs compared with conventional methods, such as coal and nuclear power plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Microclimate of a desert playa: evaluation of annual radiation, energy, and water budgets components

Malek¹

2003

Intl Journal of Climatology

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We set up two automatic weather stations over a playa (the flat floor of an undrained desert basin that, at times, becomes a shallow lake), approximately 65 km east-west by 130 km north-south, located in Dugway (40°08 N, 113°27 W, 1124 m above mean sea level) in northwestern Utah, USA, in 1999. These stations measured the radiation budget components, namely: incoming R si and outgoing R so solar or shortwave radiation, using two Kipp and Zonen pyranometers (one inverted), the incoming R li (or atmospheric) and outgoing R lo (or terrestrial) longwave radiation, using two Kipp and Zonen pyrgeometers (one inverted) during the year 2000. These sensors were ventilated throughout the year to prevent dew and frost formation. Summation of these components yields the net radiation R n . We also measured the air temperatures and humidity at 1 and 2 m and the soil moisture and temperature (Campbell Sci., Inc., CSI) to evaluate the energy budget components (latent (LE), sensible (H ), and the soil ( and 12 789.7 MJ m −2 year −1 respectively. This yields about 1634.3 MJ m −2 year −1 as R n , which is about 24% of the annual R si . Of the total 1634.3 MJ m −2 year −1 available energy, about 25% was used for the process of evaporation (LE) and 77% for heating the air (H ). The annual heat contribution from the soil to the energy budget amounted to 2% during the experimental period. Our studies showed that the total annual measured precipitation amounted to 108.0 mm year −1 during the year 2000, but the total evaporation was 167.6 mm year −1 , which means some water was extracted from the shallow water table (about 60 cm on the average depth during the year 2000).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Microclimate of a desert playa: evaluation of annual radiation, energy, and water budgets components

Malek¹

2003

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…Apart from the observations of the wetting-drying cycles, previous hydrological studies have also focused on the annual radiation and windiness (Malek et al, 2002), the evaporation rate (Pike, 1970;Prata, 1990), and the relation between the water surface area and the energy balance (Laymon, 1998) which was then employed in order to assess certain hydrological models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The water regime of the Monegros playa-lakes as established from ground and satellite data

Álamo¹,

Herrero²

2005

Journal of Hydrology

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The Monegros playa-lakes are isolated saline wetlands, locally named "saladas", situated in a vulnerable semi-arid territory where agricultural expansion threatens the natural hydrologic cycle with regular artificial flooding, risking the survival of a valuable natural resource. This study aims to examine the water regime of these playalakesfrom climate data and available hydrologic records. These records are historicaland limited to a series of weekly measurements of depth and of water extent extractedfrom Landsat imagery. We have characterized the hydrological behavior of the playalakesby treating ground and satellite data separately. For this purpose, the playalakesare first grouped according to the water occurrence episodes. Then their hydrologic status is related to the previous rainfall and also to ET0, since there is a lack of local records of wind as well as brine or fresh water evaporation. The northern playa-lakes respond to rain faster than the southern ones. All playa-lakes have a significant relationship between water occurrence and rainfall accumulated within 180 days prior to an observation. A significant relationship between ET0 and water occurrence was found 1 *Corresponding author. E-mail address: ccastanneda@aragon.es (C. Castañeda), Fax: +34 976 716 335 2 for a shorter 15-day accumulation period. Quantifying the current water regime now is critical for monitoring the effects of expanding irrigation in adjacent lands. Remote sensing is well-suited to an environmental assessment for regions of difficult access with the added benefit of lowered field measurement cost. The hydrological data from the Monegros playa-lakes could be integrated with other playa environments worldwide to compare regionally specific climate conditions.

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The daily and annual effects of dew, frost, and snow on a non-ventilated net radiometer

Malek

2008

Atmospheric Research

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Evaluation of annual radiation and windiness over a playa: possibility of harvesting the solar and wind energies

Cited by 5 publications

References 8 publications

Microclimate of a desert playa: evaluation of annual radiation, energy, and water budgets components

Microclimate of a desert playa: evaluation of annual radiation, energy, and water budgets components

The water regime of the Monegros playa-lakes as established from ground and satellite data

The daily and annual effects of dew, frost, and snow on a non-ventilated net radiometer

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