Setting up salinity gradient in an experimental solar pond (SGSP)

Abstract

This paper describes the practical experience gained from setting up salinity gradient in a MgCl solar pond at Bundoora East campus of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, Australia. This involves using saturated brine to establish the lower thermal storage (or convective) zone (LCZ) as well as the middle insulating layer in which the salinity decreases with height. This non-convective zone (NCZ) is protected from mixings caused by the wind and the destabilising effects of diurnal variation of the ambient temperature by an upper convicting layer (UCZ). In this top layer (UCZ) both the temperature and salinity are uniform. These properties increase with depth in the (NCZ). Density and temperature usually assume their maximum values at the interface between the NCZ and the lower convective zone (LCZ). Both these properties are usually constant in the (LCZ).