Home > Below Sea Level Locations
  • Areas below sea level can allow pumping costs to be lower and perhaps even zero.
  • Huge amounts of sea water must be moved into hot arid areas to evaporate at 2 meters per annum to provide the net cooling effects needed.
  • Alternatively or as well, vast new irrigation projects will produce similar cooling effects if adequate fresh water is available, however, already some irrigation areas have inadequate fresh water supplies.
  • The Qattara Depression needs the constant flow from at least one tunnel of more than 15 m (50 feet) in diameter, 55 km long and dropping 60 m to match the evaporation of the 12,000 km² lake formed. 

Africa

  • Afar Depression
    • Lake AssalDjibouti, [−153 m (−502 ft)] AREA only 54 Sq km so very low priority although it is the lowest point in Africa
    • Danakil DepressionEthiopia, [−125 m (−410 ft)] AREA: 9956 sq km requiring about 30 -50 km tunnels or channels starting in say, Assab Port in Eritricea 
  • Qattara DepressionEgypt, [−133 m (−436 ft)] Area 20,000 Sq Km if filled to maximum level.  Less if optimizing for Hydroelectric power generation.
  • Sebkha TahWestern Sahara, in Morocco  [−55 m (−180 ft)] AREA 250 sq km
  • Sabkhat GhuzayyilLibya [−47 m (−154 ft)] AREA approx 500 sq km
  • Chott MelrhirAlgeria, [−40 m (−131 ft)] AREA 6700 sq. km 
  • Shatt al GharsahTunisia, [−17 m (−56 ft)] AREA 1000 sq km 
  • Chott el Djerid Tunisia [-10 to -25 m] AREA 5-7000 sq km
  • TOTAL FOR  AFRICA 43,460 sq km
  • OTHER AREAS above sea level in the Sahara will probably be considered  in the distant future and developed if they have catchment basins and benefits exceed the very high cost of pumping sea water into them using renewable energy. Lake effects create winds so once the Lake is established nearby wind turbines will increase their efficiency and as global warming proceeds so also are average wind velocities.

Asia

  • Jordan valleyIsrael – West Bank – Jordan
      • Dead Sea, Jordan – West Bank – Israel [−430 m (−1,411 ft)], AREA 605 sq km .Being optimized for salt production with residue from desalination and not yet for cooling. A Tunnel directly to the sea would generate hydroelectric power and increase the evaporating area .Area could possibly be increased back to its 1930 area of 1050 sq km, an additional  445  sq km, and this increase in depth and  exposure to winds  would further increase evaporation which is only at about 1 meter per annum. Great for local cooling.  Lowest land in Asia and the world 31°30′N 35°30′E 
    • Turfan DepressionChina [−154 m (−505 ft)] AREA 48000 sq km Referred to by the Chinese as one of the “Furnaces of China” especially felt next to the Flaming Mountains. Has ancient underground water collection tunnels with connecting wells. Not likely to ever be connected to the ocean which is thousands of km away and risks salting of the shrinking fresh water supply. There are however two different basins in this depression and perhaps one can be for fresh water and one for the addition of Salt water, such local cooling would extend the life of the fresh water reserves. This may be worth analysis and might yield 20,000 sq km but would be very expensive to supply due to the distance from the ocean.
  • Caspian Basin
    • Caspian Depression, Karagiye, Kazakhstan [−138 m (−453 ft)]
    • Caspian Sea and its shores, Russia – Kazakhstan – Azerbaijan – Iran – Turkmenistan [−28 m (−92 ft)] This vast saline water area of 200,000 sq Km is suffering an evaporation rate greater than the rate of inflow . Between 1996 and 2015, this enormous and ancient body of salt water − ringed by five nations and making a natural border between Europe and Asia − dropped at the rate of seven centimetres a year, a total of 1.5 metres.Sep 18, 2017. Channels and tunnels of 480 km to the Black Sea may one day add back 10% of the area or 20,000 sq km but evaporation rates are relatively low and so not a significant contributor to additional global cooling.   AREA perhaps 20,000 sq km but low efficiency as the air is relatively humid.
    • Karashor Depression, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan [-28m,(-92ft)] is 120 km long and has been proposed as a new approach to disposal of drainage water from irrigation in the middle of the Karakum Desert has been named as the Golden Age Lake. Planned at 103 km long and 18.6 km wide for a total area of 1916 sq km. Covering its black sands with water alone will reduce its “furnace effect” but evaporation is great and increasing, such that run off irrigation may not fill it and a channel to the Caspian sea may be necessary to do so. 
    • TOTAL FOR ASIA  2361 sq km  

 

North America

  • Death Valley
    • Badwater BasinCalifornia, United States [−85 m (−279 ft)] AREA 518 sq. km 
    • Salton Sink, United States [−66 m (−217 ft)] AREA 910 Sq Km but highly farmed and populated nearby. Shrinking 3 to 20 ft in coming years forecast. This has exposed the toxic bottom to winds. Sea water would offset this but cost very high. 
  • Laguna SaladaBaja California, Mexico [−10 m (−33 ft)]Est. AREA 250 sq km. Although small , its proximity to California might favor its use as a cooling area for the USA as well as Mexico
  • TOTAL 1678 sq km

Australia

  • Lake Eyre, Australia, −16 m (−52 ft), AREA 9700 sq km  at 4 meters per annum would put 38.8 Billion tons of  moisture into the air and soil (absorbed and as dew) annually and show the way to reduce drought and bush fires. 
  • Lake Frome,  Australia, +1 m (+3 ft) AREA 2596 sq km  Would need several Wind turbines powering pumps to keep it full.
  • Lake Torrens, Australia  +30 meters  AREA 5745 sq km , Would need perhaps 15 Wind turbines to raise the water into it but filling Lake Eyre may provide enough evidence to indicate the worth of doing so  
  • Australia has such a huge need for moisture that  many other low lying areas inland will eventually be considered as evaporating basins to supply it. This is where we expect any additional areas will eventually be inundated with sea water as drought and bush fires drive the need for moisture in the air and in the soil
  • WIND is activated by Lake effects as the cooled air moves away and the warmer air falls down onto the Lake so when the Lakes are full thee wind velocities nearby will increase. 
  • WIND TURBINES are becoming more efficient globally by a factor of 34% in the last 10 years due to an increase in wind velocities of 7%. 
  • TOTAL AREA 18040 sq km with quite a few wind turbines powering pumps 
GLOBAL TOTAL of possible sites including some with probably acceptable pumping costs
  • 43460 plus 2361 plus 1678  plus 18040  = 65,699 Sq km 
Information courtesy of Wikipedia.com

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