Analysis of Thermo-Hygrometric Conditions of an Innovative Underwater Greenhouse

Abstract

Nemo’s Garden® Project aims at creating a green, alternative, and original agriculture system based on underwater greenhouses (biospheres) developed for areas where plant growth is difficult in the terrestrial environment due to climate conditions and new global warming issues. Experiments were designed and performed to measure the thermal and hygrometric behaviour inside the biosphere; a simple theoretical model was developed to analyse the temperature and humidity of the air inside the biosphere in dynamic conditions and to interpret the experimental observations. The main findings of this research were: (i) the photosynthetically active radiation measured inside the underwater biosphere was 25–30% of that at sea level, (ii) the air temperature and relative humidity inside the biosphere showed cyclic daily variations that permitted a water evaporation/vapour condensation process, allowing the self-production of water for plant irrigation, and (iii) the results given by the lumped-parameter theoretical model were in a good agreement with the experiments.