Hi Wobs,
Thanks for the welcome,
This below articles tell how clearing vegetation increases global warming. This is very true even in the Mojave Desert. Just compare the temperature of a concrete stripmall plaza to a desert covered with a diversity of arid adapted shrubs and cryptobiotic soil. So clearing the desert for a massive solar installation may do harm to the climate.
From "Soil Biology and Carbon Sequestration in Grasslands" by L.
Jackson, M. Potthoff, K. Steenwerth, A. O'Geen, M. Stromberg, and K.
Scow (In, California grasslands: Ecology and Management, edited by Mark
Stromberg, Jeffrey Corbin, and Carla D'Antontio, University of
California Press: Berkeley, 2007).
This could apply to Carrizo Plain grasslands and arid desert
grasslands and other shrub communities...
Grassland soils sequester or store carbon due to plant and soil
microorganism productivity, leaf and root litter accumulation (both
above and below ground) and the stability of by-products of soil
biological processes during decomposition. By storing carbon,
grasslands mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
But when grassland soils are disturbed, such as from tilling, [or
bulldozing for solar farms], a large proportion of the soil C is lost,
previously utilized by soil microbes. Perennial plant species
especially help stabilize soil C from soil microbes, fungi, and
invertebrate communities.
Land Clearing Triggers Hotter Droughts, Australian Research Shows
ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2007) — A University of Queensland scientist has led groundbreaking research which shows that clearing of native vegetation has made recent Australian droughts hotter.
Land Clearing Triggers Hotter Droughts, Australian Research Shows
Vegetation Essential To Balancing Climate Models; Climate Change 6,000 Years Ago In Sahara Desert Explained By MIT Scientists
Scientists at MIT who were trying to create accurate models of climate change in the southern portion of the Sahara desert found that including a realistic component of vegetation growth and decay was absolutely essential. Without including the vegetation as a variable (rather than a fixed parameter), the models were not able to show the region's transformation from a fertile expanse of vegetation 6,000 years ago to an arid stretch of mostly sand and mountains today.
Vegetation Essential To Balancing Climate Models; Climate Change 6,000 Years Ago In Sahara Desert Explained By MIT Scientists