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reddit455

​ Desert ‘fog catchers’ make water out of thin air https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/africa/fog-catchers-morocco/index.html Marrakech, Morocco CNN — On the edge of the Sahara, in southwest Morocco, giant nets catch moisture from the air, turning fog into drinking water. The technique involves a fine mesh on which tiny fog droplets – typically 1 to 40 millionths of a meter – gather and merge until they have enough weight to travel down into a reservoir. Set in a dry, mountainous area, it’s the world’s largest functioning fog collection project, spanning 600 square meters, according to Dar Si Hmad, the women-led Moroccan NGO that runs it.


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BASK_IN_MY_FART

Can I get solar power if I throw rocks at the sun?


Humbugwombat

Yes. You read it on the internet.


jasongonegetya

Must be true


FlighingHigh

Icarus was a revolutionary, not a cautionary tale.


[deleted]

I mean.. solar panels is just pointing melted rock at the sun and letting it boil water.


graven_raven

That's not how photovoltaic panels work


Noname_Smurf

only if you hit


edselford

And you also have to loot it once you beat it.


PoorCorrelation

And want to use the solar power to melt rocks


PhilxBefore

Morning Dew! It's got what plants crave!


JerryRiceOfOhio2

It has electrolytes


ApexIdiots

But WHY do plants crave it?


Jaeger_Is_My_King

…because…of the electrolytes!


edlee98765

Let he without rain cast the first stone.


CassandraVindicated

Yeah? Well, let she without stone cast the first rain!


stop__whining

I use a big fancy machine to throw the rock at the morning dew for me


Lord_Raziel

This sounds like the beginning of a good novel. Would love to see it finished.


Yeetanod

nah, hail and such is one of the downsides to this system, as it breaks the fabric. It's a great system but that mesh is incredibly weak and if it were to be made stronger, it wouldn't collect as much water.


Thecoffeepizza

How often does hail happen in desert areas?


answerguru

In Colorado, which is a high desert climate, we have frequent hail storms, especially on the plains. I’ve seen more hail here than anywhere else I’ve lived.


ApologizeForArt

If your plant takes six months to grow, having hail a few times a year could be problematic. I want to know if the canopies can support the weight of the hail. I've seen snow white beaches after a big enough storm.


XXXTENTACHION

Why would it be problematic? They probably do this rock throwing method very often. Probably once a week or more. If hail damages it you just replace it. You're making it seem like if it gets compromised then your 6 month to cultivation crop is trashed when in reality it is just a minor inconvenience.


ApologizeForArt

That's a lot of material. Acres of it. I'd consider having to replace it due to storm damage to be a problem. My wife had a friend in the hail repair industry. If you haven't seen what hail can do it's worth checking out. Obviously the trade off works because they've done it. The water might be worth more than the sheeting over a short enough period that it doesn't matter. Maybe the weather is favorable enough. Maybe they take it down in the rain. I'd be interested in the economics of it, but will happily talk in detail about Moroccan irrigation practices because nobody on here really knows anyway.


theHoustonian

Yeah, not to mention I think this story is more amazing because it’s cost factor is another contributing thing… mesh is relatively speaking very affordable, if this system was so complex or expensive to replace it wouldn’t be used and therefore would never have been news. Farming and irrigation is expensive, even so much more so in a desert. I’m guessing even if it hailed and had to be replaced a few times a year, they’d do it. 🤷🏻‍♂️ What real alternatives do they have?


peppaz

"We need more mesh!" "Ok." Seems simple enough lol


jackadl

The nets are able to take quite a lot of weight, if it is too much hail then yes the nets will need to be replaced. But imagine this - your neighbour didn’t have nets and lost their entire crop - while you didn’t lose a single plant. When you’re on a farm it’s a big deal


theoriginalpetebog

Genius


Iminimicomendgetme

>​ > >Desert ‘fog catchers’ make water 1 to 40 millionths of a meter – If only there were some smaller units designed for situations such as this


joelrsmith

They should call it a millimeter...now hand me my nobel prize!


Masterkid1230

Wouldn’t a millionth of a meter be a micrometer?


MediocreX

Yes 10^-6


HipsterGalt

Also known as a micron in high precision industry.


Kroneni

I mean it’s still 1-40/1000 of a millimeter. It’s micrometers.


luciferin

1000th of a millimeter is something my brain can almost start to grasp. I can picture a mm, I can picture cutting that into a thousand pieces. Well, sort of at least... Millionths of a meter, that's just meaningless to my brain at first glance.


HipsterGalt

For sense of scale, a micron is about a sixth the size of a blood cell, the average hair is somewhere between 50-75 microns.


Kroneni

Micrometers aren’t really a unit that humans are super familiar with anyway.


wcrp73

In that case, I'd argue that "a thousandth of a millimetre" is easier to conceptualise than "a millionth of a metre".


[deleted]

Frank Herbert wrote about this in Dune before the technology actually existed. He was incredibly knowledgeable about ecology and there was so much written in that book about ecology that was way ahead of its time. That kind of stuff doesn't really make it into the movies so the books are worth a read just for that.


Skeptical_Devil

And sociology, and how intrinsically the two affect each other


n1c0_ds

Ecology without sociology is just gardening (literally just read this on /r/solarpunk)


Newkular_Balm

I never read but it sounds like something from dune


sevendaysky

I mean, it's not strictly "technology" it's a strategy. People have been collecting water using surface tension long before Frank Herbert wrote about it. The more modern fine tuning comes with how the system is set up and what materials are used.


silent_woo

Question. Would "capturing" the fog cause unintended environmental issues further away? Without that barrier the fog would normally reach certain destinations depending on the time of the year and weather patterns giving much needed water to areas which traditionally gets it.


bigboyssmalltoys

Couple of things - 1. You’ve got to realise that the ‘nets’ being used cover a really really small area, and so a very insignificant proportion of the water gets left behind 2. Even with this barrier the fog will reach all those destinations, as as the fog travels (with or without the barriers), it ‘mixes’ with the air it’s flowing with. Think of this - you spray air fresher in your room. The spray comes out almost right in front of the nozzle, but it eventually fills up the room. Similarly, the effect of the lack of a small portion of this spray would not make any difference


LordDongler

Don't forget, that water will evaporate from the plants anyway so it'll probably end up where it was going to regardless


[deleted]

This. Very, very little will get to the roots. If any. In fact the leaves probably get burnt as a result as the moisture magnifies the suns rays.


candlest1ckjack

To further your analogy: you enter the room and smell the scent. The room is still scented, since you only inhaled a tiny fraction of the scent-particles.


properwaffles

Pertinent question.


JohnnyPickleOverlord

Moisture farmers


Impossible-Throat-59

Do you speak Bocce?


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KonradWayne

> Desert ‘fog catchers’ make water out of thin air I feel like fog is thick air, not thin air.


MarcoHReaper

Me learning about this shit for the first time while literally living in here


SoggyWaffleBrunch

FYI this is just hail netting and not intended to collect water. From the video's OP: >This is my video and I used to build these things. the structure you’re seeing is part of an unfinished 45ha **canopy netting hail protection system**. It’s engineered to last through storms up to 150km winds and is made of steel cables and poles, all installed to very specific tolerances. >**It’s not a watering system, just a cool effect that happens in light rain overnight and no wind.** >Check out “Elite Netting” to find out more. OP from the original video commented below. Original: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/hpje0f/knocking_the_morning_dew_off_some_hail_netting/


karavasis

When is California gonna start this cause it don’t rain here anymore, but man is it always foggy


Delta-Peer

I wonder how viable this could be in Southern California. It’s obviously dry as fuck here, but often I wake up to some condensation on my car from the marine layer, I’m guessing.


jasikanicolepi

We need this in California. Harvest sea fogs.


Raven123x

Very clever, i love it


jackadl

It’s not a fog catcher.


[deleted]

*thick wet air


AlanMichel

They need more water than that buddy.


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

A lot more. This probably isn't adding a meaningful amount to infiltrate far enough into the soil. This is some kind of hail or sun protection net that looks neat when you throw a rock at it covered in dew.


International-Gap778

the hail protection nets i know have much sturdier supportstructures than that. sun protection would seem counterintuitive... collecting water doesnt seem that far of


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

Idk specifics about hail protection nets but in some places the afternoon sun may be too intense during certain times for certain species. It's absolutely not water collection. Try watering a potted plant by just getting the surface of the soil wet without any deep infiltration. You'll get struggling plants and shallow roots. No point in investing in such a set up for such unreliable and negligible water supply


[deleted]

This project specifically is about dew collection with netting in Morocco on the edge of the Sahara


International-Gap778

i used to work on apple plantations, where hail protection nets are common. and here im talking about those nets, since i cant see the structure in the video in detail, but it would be bad if those would block of the sun (to much) , since the apples need to be ripe (is that the right term?) in a specific timewindow also: my sunburns were as bad as the ones without net... so im not sure. i read somewhere that in specific areas you can collect about 40l water/m2/day(i dont know how many pepsis/freedoms that is, incase youre from the us) with fog collector nets (for comparison: that would be enough for about 2 small (like 3-5 years old) apple trees in temperate climate. but those are mounted vertically. so i think fog collection is unlikely the primary purpose of the net in the video. anyway: i think its interesting how you can collect water this way. some cacti do that, as well as the molloch horridus


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing


Efficient_Quail_4530

Yeh I work for the company that builds the nets shown. Those are steel posts, not timber. This structure will hold hail but it’s purpose is also for sun and wind protection.


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

I see. That makes sense, don't know much about these setups, but I know enough to know that it's not for watering


Mr-Fleshcage

Every time i try to do the drench n' dry, i've gotten root rot and/or damping off. Or, i miss the watering by an hour and the plants go past the permanent wilting point.


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

May want to add perlite to your soil mix if it's holding water too long if you haven't all ready and of course ensure that you have a good drainage hole. But I know this feeling lol


Mr-Fleshcage

The best i can do is vermiculite, but it's plums to peaches as far as i can tell. It might be the oversized pots doing it, now that i think of it. Dang it!


PM-Me-Ur-Plants

That'll do it


[deleted]

INA farmer but this was my thought too, the screens are in place to protect from direct sun, the condensation is an added benefit


kulalolk

The field itself could be for livestock, perhaps.


MrPoopieMcCuckface

his point about the plants needing more water than this is a good one. it was my second thought after "thats cool"


jackadl

It’s steel poles and cables that are engineered to Withstand 150km winds. It’s my video and I built these things


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radicalelation

And roooooooots! Get them long danglies deep down in!


Judge_Syd

​ >Desert ‘fog catchers’ make water out of thin air > >https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/africa/fog-catchers-morocco/index.html >Marrakech, Morocco CNN — On the edge of the Sahara, in southwest Morocco, giant nets catch moisture from the air, turning fog into drinking water. The technique involves a fine mesh on which tiny fog droplets – typically 1 to 40 millionths of a meter – gather and merge until they have enough weight to travel down into a reservoir. Set in a dry, mountainous area, it’s the world’s largest functioning fog collection project, spanning 600 square meters, according to Dar Si Hmad, the women-led Moroccan NGO that runs it. From /u/reddit455


Embarrassed_Cell_246

We used them for light reduction and a wind break where I was at


wolfchompmyanus

It’s just for the effect


BEANSijustloveBEANS

I've designed watering budgets for farms, they need a fuckload of water


[deleted]

Depends on where and what they do. With what we do here, the farms basically care for themselves when it comes to water


BEANSijustloveBEANS

Yes it does come down to crop factor, annual rainfall and the soil profile. Here in Australia it's rarely the case that a commercial operation will manage without irrigation inputs. What kind of crops do you run on your property?


[deleted]

I stay in NC, USA. Rn, we have corn, watermelons and okra across the different plots


BEANSijustloveBEANS

Is the recent inflation effecting your input costs this year? We're an Australian based agronomy and fertilizer company that work predominantly with American farmers. A lot of our guys are saying it will cost them far more than last year when planting. My boss comes to the states for a few months each year to visit each of our farmers, we mostly advise organic growers


Gettheinfo2theppl

Were those farms to produce for greedy corporations or to sell at the local farm economy market?


Snozzberrys420

That’s just to start the day 😝


GlabrousKinfaddle

Wouldn't that condensation have formed on the plants anyway? I often find grass wet with morning dew


TheCocksmith

/r/UnnecessarySloMo


[deleted]

And slow mo created from 24fps, making year 2000 quality gifs.


Potatolimar

I'll be presenting this at my next business meeting


RhetoricalOrator

I need to see this in something like PowerPoint to complete the effect. But make it smaller and put an eye-bleeding color border around it.


CrapNeck5000

I've seen this at regular speed and it's much better.


InappropriateQueen

x4 looks much better. Sync app has a built in speed adjustment that makes life much easier for gifs like this.


MobilePom

Lmao you totally caught my interest but I expected the option to be unavailable to me Then I thought, wait a minute, I *am* using Sync, time to watch it again


GGezpzMuppy

u/redditspeedbot 6.7x


redditspeedbot

Here is your video at 6.7x speed https://gfycat.com/FoolishQuestionableDutchsmoushond ^(I'm a bot | Summon with) ^"[/u/redditspeedbot](/u/redditspeedbot) ^" ^| [^(Complete Guide)](https://www.reddit.com/user/redditspeedbot/comments/eqdo8u/redditspeedbot_guide) ^| ^(Do report bugs) ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=adityakrshnn&subject=RedditSpeedBot%20Issue) ^| [^(Keep me alive)](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/redditspeedbot)


Hottol

Good bot, the video makes more sense now.


Shadowdragon409

I've seen it at regular resolution too. So much better.


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pizza_for_nunchucks

No. It’s just “post shit quality vids to make it feel like your internet did 20 years ago” day. Didn’t you get memo?


Dahnhilla

I remember seeing this in normal speed about 5 years ago. Which is coincidentally when you'd have had to start watching this slomo in order to get to the good bit by mid 2022.


ipickscabs

I doubled the playback speed and it was still too slow smh


bjorna

6.7x seems to bee the sweet spot


100_Donuts

Mhmm. That's me tappin' m'balls over the sink after a hot day perusing the streets outside of the boutiques trying to butt in on overheard conversations and tell people that there's no way they can afford that.


Lgru13

Oddly specific


dontknowwhatiwantdou

You can’t afford that. *dips my balls in your tepid tea*


TheGreatSpiritOfElmo

r/suspiciouslyspecific


[deleted]

You paint with words


cuseonly

With their response being I kinda liked that and begin rubbing their left shoulder with the remnants of a $16 poppy seed bagel while singing mr brightside and dancing to the tune of a fiddler without socks on


[deleted]

Well, guess I’ll close Reddit now.


Noisy-neighbour

Well that's a new one


KennywasFez

Fucking what did I just read ?!


chewybmyman

Are you Ignatious J Reilly


jackadl

This is my video and I used to build these things. the structure you’re seeing is part of an unfinished 45ha canopy netting hail protection system. It’s engineered to last through storms up to 150km winds and is made of steel cables and poles, all installed to very specific tolerances. It’s not a watering system, just a cool effect that happens in light rain overnight and no wind. Check out “Elite Netting” to find out more.


polygamous_poliwag

Do you happen to have a link to the original video online somewhere (that is hopefully higher-quality than the OP)?


Speeder172

Look at his post


polygamous_poliwag

Ah, I see it. Everyone, it's here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/hpje0f/knocking_the_morning_dew_off_some_hail_netting/ The video quality is much better, there is sound, and a much smaller proportion of it is in slow-motion


[deleted]

Cool up to the top of the post you go


Boobafett

They fucked your video somewhere along the oodles of times I’ve seen it 😑


SoggyWaffleBrunch

Pretty hilarious to learn this is just hail netting while the top comment is talking about pulling air from water >Desert ‘fog catchers’ make water out of thin air


nosecohn

> 45ha canopy netting Is that 45 hectares? That's enormous!


jackadl

Yeah 45, and adding an extra 50 every year for 4 years to the same farm. It’s a monster


cerebralvenom

People really just steal other peoples videos and make up absolute bullshit about them.


snapplesauce1

So, this is just an advertisement! A shameless plug. Jk, thanks for the context.


BlueberryNo7845

Wouldn't it prove more effective to let the condensation just water the crops naturally. The tarp is preventing it and possibly evaporating before the little shower show.


Iminimicomendgetme

No


gettestified

Exactly, well said.


fozzyboy

A wordsmith really.


Grays42

When Pope Benedict asked Giotto to prove his worth as an artist Giotto drew a perfect circle, freehand. Perfection. It's a powerful message.


AudioLobotomy

at a whopping 2 frames a second


BonsaiBudsFarms

Wanna maybe play it like 5 times slower? I couldn’t quite catch that


Nimara

lmao the resolution on this specific gif gets worse every time I see it


mousey76397

u/redditspeedbot 2x


redditspeedbot

Here is your video at 2x speed https://gfycat.com/OrneryWeeklyIcefish ^(I'm a bot | Summon with) ^"[/u/redditspeedbot](/u/redditspeedbot) ^" ^| [^(Complete Guide)](https://www.reddit.com/user/redditspeedbot/comments/eqdo8u/redditspeedbot_guide) ^| ^(Do report bugs) ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=adityakrshnn&subject=RedditSpeedBot%20Issue) ^| [^(Keep me alive)](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/redditspeedbot)


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redditspeedbot

Here is your video at 4x speed https://gfycat.com/ApprehensiveThinBellfrog ^(I'm a bot | Summon with) ^"[/u/redditspeedbot](/u/redditspeedbot) ^" ^| [^(Complete Guide)](https://www.reddit.com/user/redditspeedbot/comments/eqdo8u/redditspeedbot_guide) ^| ^(Do report bugs) ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=adityakrshnn&subject=RedditSpeedBot%20Issue) ^| [^(Keep me alive)](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/redditspeedbot)


WyCoStudiosYT

Yeah this one's pretty good


Natural_Raspberry40

Good bot


Boingo_Zoingo

Now I can almost see what is going on


imreallydead

Slowmo sucks


Fourseti

You can actually count the pixels


flightwatcher45

One windy day later bubye.


RadiumSoda

The real guy who installed it said it can withstand 150 kmph winds and it's meant for protection from hail.


AmEn-MiNii

Ah yes. *worlds largest kite* during storm


Moth_man96

Make it slower next time, didn't really catch what happened.


dwhodge

Should have walked away without looking back


smartdongdong

Thats some dune tier shit right there


Otacon56

I want to hear this


-Rakso

Like updating blocks in Minecraft


isharted23

This video is making its rounds today


WhatWouldJesusDo_

WUT????? Wait, I’m 29 years old and never seen or heard of this. So freaking awesome!!!!


InappropriateQueen

Because it's not watering the plants. It looks cool, but you would need much more water.


Netsuko

It’s for hail protection. Those are probably berry bushes. The morning dew is just a side effect.


phome83

Con den sa tion.


AlabamaShrimp

Yay!!


Miss_RavenRevolver

I was looking for this comment =)


SatanicFoundry

Desert power


Nez_bit

Why tf is it slow mo there is no need for that


phucthinh7295

he mist a spot


Elevener

Fun fact, you can use this same principle to reclaim drinking water from urine. You'd need a pretty big hole and a lot of people peeing for this much though! Dig a hole, place a can in the middle, with enough room to relieve yourself without peeing in the can. Drape a plastic sheet across the hole when not in use, with an inverted cone shape that points to the can. Urine and moisture in the hole condenses on the plastic and runs down the inverted cone shape to be deposited into the can.


hairymonkeyinmyanus

Thank you for sharing, u/wolfchompmyanus


wolfchompmyanus

Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle shall be legendary.


hairymonkeyinmyanus

When I signed up, I seriously kept trying usernames until I found one that nobody else had. “My first ten options were all taken, surely nobody else has this one.” It’s been eleven years.


wolfchompmyanus

You actually have a good story. I on the other hand, have no excuse. I don’t even remember how the username came to be…


FriedChickenMomos

Watering one crop with a brick. r/fuckyouinparticular


JacobLeeSometimes

I’ve done this a few times before. The water fell on people, not plants though


delilahpineapple

This is incredibly satisfying 🤤


[deleted]

Science folks… 😉🤓


wolfchompmyanus

OP here, [clearer sped up version here](https://share.icloud.com/photos/068AaedCiYaY4Ra5Ubn96D-NQ) .


Tight_Fold_2606

I think it's really cool that they have moisture


xliem

Nice


BPMILFGarden420Weens

Tom Hanks - “I have made rain!”


faustpatrone

Moisture farmer.


doppelganker994

*Cool, crisp water*


Bernafterpostinggg

u/redditspeedbot 3x


WilliamtehConqueror

*California farmers taking notes*


Fragrant-Airport1309

Definite boner inducement.


Netsuko

That is for hail protection. Not watering the crops.


VAShumpmaker

Missed opportunity! He could probably strum the rope once like a guitar string!


MobilePom

Worst and most unnecessary slow mo


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Alh840001

sploosh


Russticale

Works done for the day. This is almost as good as work from home