Title: Solar energy dissipation and temperature control by water and plants

Authors: Jan Pokorny, Jakub Brom, Jan Cermak, Petra Hesslerova, Hanna Huryna, Nadia Nadezhdina, Alzbeta Rejskova

Addresses: ENKI, o.p.s., Dukelska 145, CZ-379 01 Trebon, Czech Republic. ' Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Landscape Management, University of South Bohemia, Studentska 13, CZ-370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic; ENKI, o.p.s., Dukelska 145, CZ-379 01 Trebon, Czech Republic. ' Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Institute of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 3, CZ-61300 Brno, Czech Republic. ' ENKI, o.p.s., Dukelska 145, CZ-379 01 Trebon, Czech Republic; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Dept. of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, CZ-165 21, Czech Republic. ' Institute of Physical Biology, University of South Bohemia, CZ-373 33 Nové Hrady, Czech Republic. ' Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Institute of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocenology, Mendel University of in Brno, Zemedelska 3, CZ-61300 Brno, Czech Republic. ' ENKI, o.p.s., Dukelska 145, CZ-379 01 Trebon, Czech Republic

Abstract: Ecosystems use solar energy for self-organisation and cool themselves by exporting entropy to the atmosphere as heat. These energy transformations are achieved through evapotranspiration, with plants as |heat valves|. In this study, the dissipative process is demonstrated at sites in the Czech Republic and Belgium, using landscape temperature data from thermovision and satellite images. While global warming is commonly attributed to atmospheric CO2, the research shows water vapour has a concentration two orders of magnitude higher than other greenhouse gases. It is critical that landscape management protects the hydrological cycle with its capacity for dissipation of incoming solar energy.

Keywords: ecosystems; evapotranspiration; sensible heat; albedo; radiative forcing; temperature variation; remote sensing; solar energy; energy transformation; global warming; water vapour; greenhouse gases; plants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJW.2010.038726

International Journal of Water, 2010 Vol.5 No.4, pp.311 - 336

Published online: 24 Feb 2011 *

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