hello /sci/,
At the risk of sounding like a massive fucking autist, I came up with an unusual idea for an ecological megaproject that could potentially ease the effects of desertification and climate change in the southeast California/Nevada region, or possibly even the entire country if the cooling effects spread far enough.
Basically it would involve flooding the Badwater Basin area of Death valley with seawater from a series of underground and underwater pipes around 15 feet in diameter that connect to the ocean near the Mussel Shoals area about 400 yards from the coast. The main benefit of a landlocked body of seawater is that there would be that the added moisture would quickly convert the area around Death Valley National Park from an extremely dry desert with arguably the hottest temperatures in the world (as well as extremely cold winters), to a subtropical enclave or possibly even a rainforest environment with much cooler, wetter summers. The exposed salt flats produce the vast majority of the heat today from sunlight exposure, and at the deepest point are almost 290 feet below sea level. A secondary benefit of the landlocked sea would be that it could potentially provide a refuge for the Ocean's drastically declining coral reef populations, notably from the Great Barrier Reef and the Atlantic Caribbean. The inland sea would be just small enough that its PH could be artificially maintained by man made water treatment systems. Concrete tetrapods like the ones used in coastal erosion barriers (notably in airports built on artificial islands) or vehicles awaiting scrap could be used as the seed structures for the coral, just as decommissioned ships are often scuttled to become artificial reefs. Coral polyps, and marine reef fishes, mollusks, and other fauna from around the world could be carefully introduced to create a self-sustaining carbon sink ecosystem.
At the risk of sounding like a massive fucking autist, I came up with an unusual idea for an ecological megaproject that could potentially ease the effects of desertification and climate change in the southeast California/Nevada region, or possibly even the entire country if the cooling effects spread far enough.
Basically it would involve flooding the Badwater Basin area of Death valley with seawater from a series of underground and underwater pipes around 15 feet in diameter that connect to the ocean near the Mussel Shoals area about 400 yards from the coast. The main benefit of a landlocked body of seawater is that there would be that the added moisture would quickly convert the area around Death Valley National Park from an extremely dry desert with arguably the hottest temperatures in the world (as well as extremely cold winters), to a subtropical enclave or possibly even a rainforest environment with much cooler, wetter summers. The exposed salt flats produce the vast majority of the heat today from sunlight exposure, and at the deepest point are almost 290 feet below sea level. A secondary benefit of the landlocked sea would be that it could potentially provide a refuge for the Ocean's drastically declining coral reef populations, notably from the Great Barrier Reef and the Atlantic Caribbean. The inland sea would be just small enough that its PH could be artificially maintained by man made water treatment systems. Concrete tetrapods like the ones used in coastal erosion barriers (notably in airports built on artificial islands) or vehicles awaiting scrap could be used as the seed structures for the coral, just as decommissioned ships are often scuttled to become artificial reefs. Coral polyps, and marine reef fishes, mollusks, and other fauna from around the world could be carefully introduced to create a self-sustaining carbon sink ecosystem.
