THE IMPACT OF ATMOSPHERIC WATER GENERATION ON REGIONAL CLIMATE

Abstract

 Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG), which is the technology to obtain water by artificially condensing water vapor in the atmosphere, has attracted its attention in recent years due to its advantages such as not requiring liquid water sources like oceans, rivers, and lakes. Although much research about AWG has been conducted, its impact on the surrounding environment due to drying the atmosphere has been neglected. In this study, the process of AWG was modeled and incorporated into a regional climate model, and simulations were conducted. The effect of implementing large-scale AWG was examined at three sites with different climates in Tokyo, Riyadh, and Delhi, and found that there was a decrease in precipitation and temperature around the implemented area. These are thought to be due to desiccation caused by the removal of water vapor by AWG, and increased evaporation from the ground surface caused by that, respectively. It was also found that approximately 10 ~ 20 % of the water obtained by AWG was supplied by the increased evaporation from the ground surface at the site, while the rest by water vapor inflow from the surrounding atmosphere.