Atmospheric Desalination Buoys: A Concept for Humidity Enhancement, Wildfire Mitigation, and Marine Co-Benefits

Atmospheric Desalination Buoys: A Concept for Humidity Enhancement, Wildfire Mitigation, and Marine Co-Benefits | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Atmospheric Desalination Buoys: A Concept for Humidity Enhancement, Wildfire Mitigation, and Marine Co-Benefits Iñaki Del Amo Castillo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435687/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We introduce the Atmospheric Desalination Buoy (ADB), a novel marine-based geoengineering concept that couples passive solar concentration (Fresnel optics), thin-film evaporation with heat recovery, and a solar chimney to inject water vapor into the lower atmosphere while crystallizing salts in situ to achieve zero liquid discharge. When deployed in large clusters, ADBs are projected to elevate near-surface relative humidity, reduce wildfire risk, and provide ancillary benefits for sustainable fisheries and agriculture. This work presents preliminary energy balance assessments, psychrometric analyses, and buoyant plume dispersion models, supported by ecological and techno-economic considerations. Comparative case studies spanning desertic, semi-arid, boreal, and tropical island settings demonstrate broad global applicability. A pilot deployment pathway is outlined, and full derivations of thermodynamic and plume models are provided in the appendices. Atmospheric desalination Fresnel solar evaporation Buoyant plume Wildfire mitigation Sustainable fisheries Coastal agriculture Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7435687","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":523489412,"identity":"dd5143e4-3109-413b-926c-95f3fa35108d","order_by":0,"name":"Iñaki Del Amo Castillo","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAw0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAzwMDHJgxgNStBiDGQlEWwPUktgAYhClhX/28YsH3lQcTp8fdvgh0BY7Od0GAlokzuUUHJxzJi134+00A6CWZGOzA4SsOcOTcJi3zSZ34+wEkJYDidsIaZGHaJFIN5yd/oE4LQZn2A+AbEmQl84h0hbDMzwMIL8YbpDOKTiQYECEX+TOsD/+AAwxefnZ6Zs/fKiwkyPsfQYeA4gLwSoNCCoHAfYHYEq+gSjVo2AUjIJRMBIBAH+jSZ1rXso0AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Iñaki","middleName":"Del Amo","lastName":"Castillo","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-22 15:08:30","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435687/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435687/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92685274,"identity":"5ce1568c-5b48-4260-be47-028e7b065cb3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-03 03:04:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2226305,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AtmosphericDesalinationBuoysV1.1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7435687/v1_covered_ad43b167-2c94-459e-9af0-779f703fde77.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Atmospheric Desalination Buoys: A Concept for Humidity Enhancement, Wildfire Mitigation, and Marine Co-Benefits","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Atmospheric desalination, Fresnel solar evaporation, Buoyant plume, Wildfire mitigation, Sustainable fisheries, Coastal agriculture","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435687/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435687/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We introduce the Atmospheric Desalination Buoy (ADB), a novel marine-based geoengineering concept that couples passive solar concentration (Fresnel optics), thin-film evaporation with heat recovery, and a solar chimney to inject water vapor into the lower atmosphere while crystallizing salts in situ to achieve zero liquid discharge. 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