Renewable Energy, Vol.13, No.1, 67-76, 1998
Measurements of microclimatic factors inside the oasis: interception and sharing of solar radiation
The oasis climate must be given prime consideration when new cultivated land is laid out and also when attempting to increase the yield of palm groves. Measurements of the microclimatic factors at different heights in the traditional oasis (multi-storey exploitation) have been made for a period of 1 month (October 1995). We have been able to bring out the share of intercepted global radiation between the three production levels inside the oasis, so we can have an approximation of the photosynthetic efficiency. The vertical net radiation profiles give us an approximation of the evapotranspiration for the total oasis and for every storey. We have also accentuated the role of a windbreak played by the oasis and we have studied the incidence of a canopy with three storey exploitation on relative humidity and air temperature profiles.