[flooddthvalley]

Ultrasonic foggers would also increase the amount of salt in the air, so you’d have to run them far out in the sea.

Instead, flood Death Valley with ocean water:

1. Massive evaporative potential. 2. Moisture trapped by tall mountains replenishing the aquifer and making lush surroundings. 3. Massive hydro potential 4. Displaced species not seriously harmed since the moisture gradient would be large (are P. 2) 5. You could harvest the salt prolonging the suitability of the project (anyway measured in centuries if not millennia)

Basically you’d have the lushness of the surroundings of Salt Lake City (compared to the desert anyway). Except there would be a lot more moisture (lower salinity wrt it Salt Lake, moisture better trapped)

You could do the same thing in Egypt at the Qatara depression, except with potentially global benefits. Here the half of the Sahara could be turned into productive farm land.

[lexpar]

I like this idea.

I don't know if I would say I'm 'hoping' for this, but I'm certainly interested to see what kind of incredible projects will come out of the increased necessity brought on by climate change.

It seems like for a long time there's been resistance to really try to do 'big' things in NA. We hardly even build subways since the 60's -- too complicated, too expensive, too disruptive, too big! Maybe we'll increase our ambitions as a society when we're less comfortable.

[flooddthvalley]

If you like projects check these out:

1. You can drain the mediterranean.

It’s simple, really. Plug the straight of Gibraltar up, put a lock system for continued shipping, and, slowly, the sea will evaporate away.

That’s insane!

2. You can drain/flood the attic sea by damning the Bearing strait.

While the sea wouldn’t be sealed up, the Giuk gap isn’t big enough to stop significant changes in water levels!

It’s actually kinda fun to look at a map and find what massive bodies of water are within our ability to drain

[thehappypm]

Sigh. Let's destroy a vast ecosystem and fundamentally change the atmosphere of a hugely important agricultural region. Let's not solve one problem by creating 10.

[flooddthvalley]

What are these problems? I’ve asked (many) geologists and the best answer they come up with is salt seepage into the aquifer if it’s not done right, and a temporary increase of seismic activity due to relaxation from the added weight.

Look, the Three Gorges damn is much larger than this and much much more destructive. Entire cities disappeared.

But it also generates 22 GW of power.That’s an insane amount of coal that wasn’t burned.

So choose: burn coal. Burn U235. Flood valleys. Sashimi the birds. Carpet the desert with glass. Or massively decrease your standard of living.

For the record, I’m actually in favor of the last option.

[thehappypm]

Why do you think geologists are the right specialists for this question? I would imagine geological concerns would indeed be mild, but meteorological effects could be monstrous as the weather created by this new sea would massively impact local climates, which could have far-reaching downstream impact.

[AngryData]

I agree with you, but at the same time, that is worth looking into because we are already changing the ecosystem fundamentally. We shouldn't just haphazardly try to geoengineer our planet, but geoengineering out planet is pretty much a necessity unless over half of us die and the rest turn into mostly pre-industrial methods of livings.

[flooddthvalley]

While the ecosystem is vast, being probably about a million square mi., the flooded region and surrounding area is small.

The mountains would trap the moisture locally. So even three, four mountains over the desert would be untouched.

As to Egypt, it would be restoring the Sahara to the lush green area much of it used to be before humans came in.

[aww_dang]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea#Past_efforts_and_pr...

[flooddthvalley]

Sure.

But you could have picked anyone of hundreds of other artificial lakes already in California. Ones that are deeper, with clean water instead of runoff.

You could also compare it to the Dead Sea, another body of water with no outlet.

[aww_dang]

The Salton Sea is already an ecological issue in terms of the run off and salinity you mentioned. Additionally there are economic concerns.

One of the plans is to use local geothermal power for desalination. Importing saltwater to freshwater lakes would disrupt ecosystems. Depth wouldn't necessarily be an advantage if we are are looking for evaporation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22899331

[pintxo]

Randall Munroe has an answer to that: https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/

[flooddthvalley]

I wouldn’t have it filled with river water or agricultural run off, but with ocean water.

Nor would it be shallow.