Managing sunlight
Questions for pompe and anyone else who can answer:
if we used space mirrors so that the nightside of the Earth got the same sunlight as the dayside, would we totally roast? How quickly/badly?
What if we get the same total sunlight as now, but split and redirect it, so that the tropics at noon get less than half what they do now, but the entire planet gets that same level, 24/7? I imagine net thermodynamics wouldn't change much, weather would be massively changed, but I'm most interested in plant productivity -- is it more productive to have a constant moderate level of light everywhere, rather than some times and places with intense light and others with none, or vice versa?
if we used space mirrors so that the nightside of the Earth got the same sunlight as the dayside, would we totally roast? How quickly/badly?
What if we get the same total sunlight as now, but split and redirect it, so that the tropics at noon get less than half what they do now, but the entire planet gets that same level, 24/7? I imagine net thermodynamics wouldn't change much, weather would be massively changed, but I'm most interested in plant productivity -- is it more productive to have a constant moderate level of light everywhere, rather than some times and places with intense light and others with none, or vice versa?