Wind energy heat flow rate

Cover temperature is another variable which controls distillation rate and efficiency. All of the heat transferred to the underside of the cover from the basin, plus the small solar absorption in it, must be dissipated by convection to the surrounding air and by radiation to the sky. Ambient temperature, wind velocity, and atmospheric clarity all influence the temperature driving force necessary to attain the equilibrium heat transfer rate. Cover temperature, in turn, affects basin temperature, so that an over-all equality in heat flows prevails. The primary variable remains, of course, the solar energy input rate, its most important effect being the temperature level in the salt water basin. 

---