Nature as a Teacher for Abiota Self-Organization in Terms of Entropy Analysis

Abstract

In this chapter, the various terms of entropy generation in terrestrial systems and the atmosphere are estimated by imitating the entropy analysis of a steam power generation (STPG). The highest entropy generation is associated with the outgoing longwave radiation flux (more than 20–200 times the downward solar radiation). The results indicate that the most significant terms of entropy generation (heat dissipation) in different processes are related to latent and sensible heat fluxes (similar to steam generation and flue gas of the STPG). The vegetation cover (boiler system) destroys a part of solar energy absorption in the form of entropy generated by the formation of water vapor and transpiration (steam turbine). Given that life is formed by the optimal balance between the system, the ecosystem, and the living and nonliving organisms, it is important to study the various entropy fluxes in ecosystems that can lead to ecosystem balance.

1. Introduction

Climate change and its effects on human life have shown that the identification of the material and energy flows interactions of nature, and the analysis methods of the natural phenomena are essential to achieve some new way to increase the ecosystem’s adaptive capacity [1]. On the other hand, nature is an awesome system for humans; the source from which the best mechanisms and engineering ideas can be extracted. There are two fundamentally different ways of enabling humans to draw free energy. Firstly, low-entropy food produced by farming and photosynthesis is used to meet the metabolic needs of billions of people; in fact, the total amount of energy released by human metabolism can be compared with the energy that drives oceanic circulation. In a second way, low-entropy sources of energy such as fossil fuels, etc. are used by humans to maintain their external activities such as manufacturing, heating, etc. Energy consumption in this domain can surpass 10–100 times that of human metabolism [2].

One of the first studies done on the energy balance on the Earth is the valuable research work of Hartmann et al. [3]. In his climate studies, he conducted an overview of the atmospheric radiation budget measurement and found that the net flow of radiant energy between the upper atmosphere and the earth’s surface is balanced.

In nature, what is almost always paramount is efficiency; there is no pattern of stability in that from which at least a single thing cannot be learned. Over the years, natural systems have been observed flawlessly, and all structures in this system have been in a good place. The problem with this statement is that the 2nd Law of thermodynamics allows systems to achieve order through working and using free energy in different cycles [4]. Irreversible work changes the order of the system. Heat transfer has the same effects that depend on the temperature gradient, both Irreversible work and heat transfer increases the entropy of the system; In other words, the Maximization of entropy production hinders ecological succession. Thermal analysis of ecosystems has shown that more mature systems store more solar energy, and have less heat dissipation. So, in these systems, the surface temperature will be colder and the temperature variance will be less [5]. Moreover, under the same environmental conditions, highly self-organizing systems must reflect solar radiation at a lower exergy level. It shows a cooler surface temperature. The hypothesis that older ecosystems have lower surface temperatures has been studied by only a few studies, despite the obvious applications for environmental management in the context of climate change and global warming [6]. Some researchers have concluded that tropical seasonal rainforests have lower levels of self-organization than adjacent farms, and the higher the daily average, the greater the degree of energy absorption and dissipation [7, 8].

Schneider and Kay [9] suggested that the incoming solar radiation is degraded; besides, it increases entropy. This process leads to maximum entropy production during ecosystem evolutions. Steinborna and Svirezhev [10] supposed the “entropy pump” hypothesis, which is a metric that quantifies the anthropogenic activities in an ecosystem. They studied the increase in entropy resulting from agricultural production; then, they concluded that the entropy generated by agricultural overproduction leads to less sustainability in the ecosystem; actually, Vast interactions in nature increase the free energy and cause significant thermodynamic disequilibrium in the atmosphere [11].

Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) highlighted negative entropy as a capacity of producing order out of disorder [9]. Negentropy is a thermodynamic phenomenon that leads to higher efficiency; nevertheless, the absolute magnitude of general efficiency cannot be determined due to the countless biotic and abiotic interactions in the ecosystem [12]. The equilibrium between biotic and abiotic structures is evolving during the earth’s life and it generates entropy increment in some structures while it makes orders in others (negative entropy) [13]; In other words, Negentropy might be characterized as the stored energy in a highly structured system in terms of space and time. Negentropy describes a harmonically coupled series of causes and effects, where the total sum of harmonic effects is more intensively coupled than the original causes [14]. In this regard, Norris et al. has studied the effects of biomass functional diversity and solar degradation enhancement in terms of thermodynamic efficiency [15].

The occurrence of various reactions might lead to the formation of highly ordered structures. During this process, low-entropy flows out of the Sun, after dissipating the heat and interacting with the earth, turn into a high-entropy flux [16, 17]. Irreversible processes in the atmosphere are defined as net entropy fluxes, and the greenhouse effects are not deniable on their entropy flux [18]. The growth rate of short-wave entropy flux is higher than the growth rate of long-wave radiation flux. Therefore, with the absorption of more short-wave radiations, the irreversibility is further decreased.

Despite the potential of the second law of thermodynamics for ecosystem evaluation, lower researchers have used this concept to present the variation in ecosystem quality. In this chapter, a method to imitate the physical energy system has been suggested to measure the ecosystem quality changes. we deduce the entropy flux of different flows of the ecosystems in different climatic zones changes with seasons. The ability of the ecosystem as a self-organization system has been studied based on the negentropy of some interactions. For further understanding, to estimate the entropy efficiency of the ecosystem, these systems have been converted to the Carnot engine and Steam powerplants systems.

2. Materials and methods

Entropy is a state property that indicates the level of disorder in the system; its change between states can be calculated by the integral ratio of the reversible heat transfer to the absolute temperature. This ‘state of disorder” is characterized by the amount of disordered energy and its temperature level. In the case of reversible heat transfer between two systems, both systems would be at the same temperature and the amount of increase in one’s disorder matches the amount of decrease in the other’s disorder [19].

Here, the difference between net radiation and ground heat flux (G) can be defined as the available energy that can be calculated by the summation between SH and LE; though, due to the imbalance of surface energy, the observed available energy would be more often larger than the sum of EC-measured SH and LE. The energy balance closure ratio (EBR) accounts for 60–90% in most instances [20].

Entropy generation within a system creates internal irreversibility; Hence, no matter how the changes in the entropy of the system and its surroundings might be, the total entropy change (entropy generation) cannot be less than zero for any process [16].

As shown in Figure 1, human activities are part of the process of entropy generation, and nature should be able to adapt to the changes that have taken place.

Figure 1.

The main entropy flows of nature.

In this research, we have developed a method thereby measuring entropy production in the ecosystem. The general equation of entropy balance is based on different terms of ecosystem flows; Here, different entropy fluxes in the ecosystem have been taken into account.

1. System boundaries and energy balance equation [21]

   $${\mathrm{K}}_{\mathrm{n}}-{\mathrm{L}}_{\mathrm{n}}-\mathrm{H}-\mathrm{LE}-\mathrm{dG}=0$$E1

2. Second law of the entropy equation [21]

   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{\text{irrev}}=\frac{\mathrm{d}{\mathrm{S}}_{\mathrm{sys}}}{\mathrm{dt}}+\sum _{\text{out}}{\dot{\mathrm{m}}}_{\mathrm{e}}{\mathrm{s}}_{\mathrm{e}}-\sum _{\text{in}}{\dot{\mathrm{m}}}_{\mathrm{i}}{\mathrm{s}}_{\mathrm{i}}-\sum \frac{{\dot{\mathrm{Q}}}_{\mathrm{j}}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{j}}}$$E2
   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{\text{irrev}}=\frac{\mathrm{d}{\mathrm{S}}_{\mathrm{G}}}{\mathrm{dt}}+{\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{\mathrm{H}}+{\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{\mathrm{LE}}+{\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{K}}_{\text{out}}}+{\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{L}}_{\text{out}}}-{\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{K}}_{\text{in}}}-{\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{L}}_{\text{in}}}$$E3

3. Entropy of radiation [21].

   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{L}}_{\text{in}}}=\frac{{\mathrm{L}}_{\text{in}}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{sky}}}\text{and}$$E4
   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{K}}_{\text{in}}}=\frac{{\mathrm{K}}_{\text{in}}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{br}}}$$E5
   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{{\mathrm{K}}_{\text{in}}}=\left({\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{ir}{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{dir}}^{0.9}}+{\mathrm{C}}_{\text{diff}}{\left(1-{\mathrm{p}}_{\mathrm{dir}}\right)}^{0.9}\right){\mathrm{K}}_{\text{in}}^{0.9}$$E6
   $${\dot{S}}_{L_{\mathit{\text{out}}}}=\frac{L_{\mathit{\text{out}}}}{T_{\mathit{\text{surf}}}}$$E7

4. Entropy of sensible and latent heat flows [21]

   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{\mathrm{H}}=\frac{\mathrm{H}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{air}}}$$E8
   $${\dot{\mathrm{S}}}_{\text{LEheat}}=\frac{\mathrm{LE}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{air}}}$$E9
   $${\dot{S}}_{\mathit{\text{LEmix}}}=\left(E\right)\left(R_v\right)ln\left(R{H}_{\mathit{amb}}\right)$$E10

5. Storage terms and steady-state assumptions [21]

   $$\frac{d{S}_{G_i}}{\mathit{dt}}=\frac{d{G}_i}{\mathit{dt}}\frac{1}{T_i}$$E11

6. the Carnot efficiency of the biosystem can be calculated as [22]:

$${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathit{\text{biosystem}}}=\frac{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{Ave}.\mathrm{air}}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{\mathit{Sun}}}$$E12

$$\mathrm{W}={\mathrm{Q}}_{\mathrm{H}}-{\mathrm{Q}}_{\mathrm{C}}$$E13

Regarding different interactions between ecosystem’s components, Figure 2 has been illustrated the entropy balance of the ecosystem.

Figure 2.

Different interactions between the ecosystem’s components in terms of the entropy balance of the ecosystem.

3. Results and discussions

Sun radiation contains short-wave and long-wave radiation. Short-wave radiation has a considerable amount of energy; whereas, long-wave radiation has a lower energy content. UV rays from short-wave radiation passing through the atmosphere are absorbed by the clouds and the earth’s surface. Part of the energy received by the surface is reflected into the atmosphere; this energy is re-emitted to the atmosphere as infrared rays. Here, the entropy balance between different flows that come and go to/from the earth has been studied (Figure 1).

The change of seasons in different environments, depending on the latitude and geometric orbit of the Earth, creates changes in solar radiation. Due to the diversity of climates and different land uses in Iran, four provinces have been considered in different climates. Figure 3 shows the four studied areas and their land uses severally.

Figure 3.

Land use of different case studies in this study.

3.1 Entropy of shortwave radiation in different climatic zones

The energy of short-wave radiation is absorbed by the surface according to the geographical location (Figure 4a–d). Sunny days are more frequent in the center of Iran than in the north of the country. In the south of Iran, due to dust and humidity effects, sunny days are becoming less frequent. In the north, the cloudy days are so frequent that the short-wave radiation in this area is less than in the other areas. Generally, shortwave radiation is the main source of energy on the earth and can be changed based on the quality of the atmosphere and earth.

Figure 4.

The entropy of surface downward shortwave radiation flows in different climates in spring (a), summer (b), autumn (c), and winter (d) (W/m²).

Cold radiation—the radiation of long-wave rays—is the main process of heat loss in the Earth’s climate system. The balance between this energy loss (output) and the thermal energy resulting from short-wave radiation (input) determines global warming or global cooling of the earth’s system.

In Mazandaran province, in winter, in comparison to other seasons, the entropy generation of surface downward shortwave radiation flow is about 10 times (Figure 5a–d). The earth’s surface temperature is very low in winter, which means that much of the sun’s radiation is reflected due to the lack of vegetation cover; thus, entropy production increases in this season. In other seasons, this value increases to about 12 W/m².

Figure 5.

The entropy of surface outgoing shortwave radiation flows in different climates spring (a), summer (b), autumn (c), and winter (d) (W/m²).

In Bushehr province, in spring, entropy production increases from 5.8–7.4 W/m². Compared to other seasons, in summer, radiation absorption does not have much effect on entropy production and it varies around 5.5–8 W/m². This is due to the high temperature and the ability of the earth to absorb the high levels of radiation owing to the position of the sun in this season. In autumn, the quality of the earth for sunlight absorption changes, and the absorption amount decreases from about 3.75 to 5.5 W/m². Interestingly, in winter, as a result of changes in temperature, entropy production on Earth increases. It seems that the Earth is getting prepared for the increase of its power in the winter season.

Yazd province is no exception to this rule. In winter, in Yazd, the entropy generation is about 7 W/m² more than anywhere else in autumn; however, this increase, compared to summer, is about 2 W/m² in fall. In spring, land developments behave differently; therefore, entropy production in this season is approximately 2 W/m² higher than in summer.

In Tehran province, the amount of entropy production in spring is about 8–10 12 W/m². This amount decreases to some extent in summer and reaches approximately 6.6 to 7.2 12 W/m². In autumn, Land cover and air temperature changes reduce this value to 5.6–7 12 W/m². In winter, the decrease in temperature intensifies the effect on entropy production; therefore, entropy production increases to about 9.4–10.8 12 W/m².

As Figure 5d shows in winter nature has negentropy. Negentropy can preserve the efficiency of the ecosystem. This amplifies the order and improves the general efficiency of the ecosystem.

In winter, the length of days is shorter than at night; that is, the surface outgoing shortwave radiation during nights increases and it leads to negentropy. It seems that radiative cooling which leads to the absorption of the long-wave radiation energy by the earth (infrared), can balance the short-wave radiation (visible light). In particular, both heat transfer convection and latent heat evaporation transfer are important in removing heat energy from the surface and redistributing that in the atmosphere. It is worth noting that daily diversity and geographical differences complicate the outgoing and downward radiation energy either.

In other seasons, the entropy of the surface outgoing short-wave radiation flows generates about 1–3 W/m² in each location.

As shown in the figures above, in general, the amount of shortwave radiation in areas with dense vegetation (a part of the studied provinces according to the land use map especially Mazandaran, and Yazd province) is more, while the temperature is lower. So, as can be seen in this sector’s figures, these areas have more shortwave entropy radiation, and the opposite of this is seen for areas with sparse vegetation. The reason is that the dense vegetation cover areas have low surface albedo, and high evapotranspiration values, and vice versa. Moreover, the dense vegetation cover areas have higher latitudes, a decrease in the sun’s angle, and the amount of cloudiness are also other reasons for this issue.

Also, winter albedos of treeless areas are higher than forested areas, because snow does not easily cover trees. The summer albedo is related to the amount of photosynthesis process because plants with high growth capacity have a larger fraction of their foliage to receive light. The result is that wavelengths radiations that are not used in photosynthesis are mostly reflected into space instead of being absorbed by other surfaces.

On the other hand, considering that the highest surface albedo is in the winter season and the minimum amount of reflection is in the spring season, therefore, the entropy caused by the absorbed radiation in the spring season is higher in all areas than in the winter season. Of course, in desert areas such as parts of Yazd and Tehran provinces, the amount of absorbed radiation is lower and therefore they produce less entropy of shortwave radiation, which is because deserts albedo is almost high.

3.2 The long-wave entropy radiation in different seasons and climates

The important climatic process of atmospheric warming takes place mainly through the earth’s surface, which is heated during the absorption of solar energy and thus is itself a source of radiation. The altitude of different climatic zones is presented in Table 1.

Province	Longitude	Latitude	Altitude
Mazandaran	50.9	36.7	36.73
Bushehr	50.8	28.9	28.95
Yazd	54.3	31.8	31.88
Tehran	51.3	35.7	35.7

Table 1.

Different case studies and their longitude, latitude, and altitudes.

Longwave entropy flux is determined by dividing the upper atmosphere solar irradiation from layers in the atmosphere to sky temperature. In this chapter, using NOAA satellite observation data sets, we study the entropy budget of the ecosystem during different months and seasons.

The amounts of infrared fluxes depend on different factors such as the thickness of the cloud (the thicker the cloud, the less heat escapes into space), the height of the cloud, the water vapor content of the atmosphere (less heat is released into the atmosphere from a highly wet atmosphere), water temperature and snow cover.

The northern areas of Mazandaran province are close to the sea and, compared with the southern areas that are covered by forests, they have fewer vegetation areas; therefore, the amount of radiation energy that returns to the atmosphere is higher in the northern areas, and consequently, more entropy flux is produced. Usually in summer, when the surface air is warmer, the amount of entropy production decreases to some extent. Proportionately, the entropy production process in autumn is somewhat similar to the process in summer. Due to the little and far vegetation in winter, most of the radiation flux is reflected from the ground. Another point is that nights in winter are longer than days. So, the entropy produced at night would have a greater effect on the total entropy flux in some areas. Since the earth is warmer in the day than at night and the direction of heat movement is in the opposite direction of the day, it is understood that in some parts of the earth, the amount of negative entropy generation at night is more than the amount of that at night. It occurs especially in winter.

The increase in the flux of downward long wavelength’s entropy (due to the clouds and particles in the air) is almost several times greater than the wavelength radiation emitted from the atmosphere. In Mazandaran province, this amount increases to a great extent in some areas. In spring, due to the presence of clouds, this amount has a high value and affects humidity in Mazandaran. That is, in many areas, this value changes between 10 and 50 W/m². Only a limited part of the studied region has 3000 W/m²; whereas, in summer, due to the decrease in cloudiness conditions, the amount of solar energy in the atmosphere decreases and changes by about 10–18 W/m². In fall, although in some limited areas this amount has reached about 10,000 W/m², the average value is between 0 and 2000 W/m². In winter, significant changes in this value are observed. and in many areas, the amount varies between 0 and 20 W/m² (Figure 6a–d).

Figure 6.

The entropy content of the incoming and outgoing long-wave radiation fluxes (S_ Lin, S_ Lout) in a wet and cold climate (a), a wet and hot climate (b), a dry and hot climate (c), and a mountain climate (d).

In Bushehr region, the long-wave entropy generation in spring, from the energy input to the atmosphere is more than in other seasons, while these amounts decrease in winter and autumn.

In Bushehr province (Figure 7a–d), the rate of increase in incoming entropy to the atmosphere, in some seasons, is about 10–20 times higher than this value in Mazandaran province. In this region, dust generated from industrial activities, and the effects of air humidity, are the main items varying the entropy generation between 0 and 100 W/m². In spring and summer, this value is between 0 and 50 W/m² in many areas; however, in urban and industrial areas this amount increases to about 400 W/m². In autumn the values of the entropy increase by about 80 W/m² though; that is, in summer the disorder created by the atmosphere is up to about 2 times less than that in spring. In winter, the previous trend seems to continue.

Figure 7.

The entropy content of the incoming and outgoing long-wave radiation fluxes (S_ Lin, S_ Lout) in a wet and cold climate (a), a wet and hot climate (b), a dry and hot climate (c), and a mountain climate (d).

A large area of Yazd province is semi-desert and without vegetation cover. Moreover, due to the semi-mountainous topography, it has many slopes facing southwest, which increases the amount of radiation per unit area, and consequently, the amount of reflection [23].

Increased tourism effects in spring generated radiation entropy because of the effect of cloudiness and pollution (Figure 8a). In summer, these effects are reduced to about one-tenth of their value in spring, which may be due to a rising sky temperature (Figure 8b). In autumn and winter, the trend of entropy increase is almost the same. As shown in Figure 8a–d urban areas have a much greater value compared to other areas, which can well show the effect of air pollution on solar radiation.

Figure 8.

The entropy content of the incoming and outgoing long-wave radiation fluxes (S_ Lin, S_ Lout) in a wet and cold climate (a), a wet and hot climate (b), a dry and hot climate (c), and a mountain climate (d).

In spring, the amount of long-wavelength entropy production in the atmosphere varies in the range of 0–200 W/m² in most areas of Yazd province. Only a limited percentage of this region produces entropy up to about 600–1000 W/m².

In summer, some areas of Yazd province have the same value as in spring. Only in limited areas, where the average entropy production is about 600 W/m² in spring, this amount is reduced to about 100–140 W/m². In fall, the produced entropy is about 3.5 times that of summer. Finally, in winter, its amount does not change much compared to autumn and is almost constant.

In Tehran province, the effect of increased entropy due to the input long wavelength is very significant in spring. One of the important reasons for entropy production at the atmospheric level is the existence of pollutants in the atmosphere. Tehran, as a region with a high population density, is one of the most polluted cities in Iran. Therefore, entropy production in some areas of Tehran is worth considering, especially in the eastern part of Tehran, where there are a lot of car travel and industries. On the other hand, the degree of cloudiness in spring is much higher than that in summer, so the effect will be much greater. As shown in Figure 9c and d, similar behavior has been seen in autumn and winter.

Figure 9.

The entropy content of the incoming and outgoing long-wave radiation fluxes (S_ Lin, S_ Lout) in a wet and cold climate (a), a wet and hot climate (b), a dry and hot climate (c), and a mountain climate (d).

In Tehran, the situation is completely different in different areas. In spring (Figure 3(a)), the generated entropy in western areas reaches about 1400 W/m² and in other areas, it is about 600 W/m² on average. In summer (Figure 9b), the amount of entropy production reaches an average of about 15 W/m². This value has increased 10 times in autumn and even in some areas- southeast of Tehran- it reaches 120 W/m². In winter, the same trend is observed as in autumn.

The up-wave radiation leads to an increase in the surface temperature of the earth. In Mazandaran, vegetation cover leads to Sunlight absorption, which has loosed energy from the plants and temperature change.

Moreover, Entropy from long-wavelength radiation fluctuates between spring and summer seasons, as well as latitude variation. The long-wavelength entropy radiation is higher in the spring season and the southern regions of the country (Bushehr province), and it can be said that one of the reasons for the maximum entropy in this area is related to the maximum long-wave radiation from the south of Iran (Bushehr province). In the spring season, the vertical angle of the sun and the sky is clear, the amount of received energy is more than in the regions with higher latitudes, and accordingly, the amount of energy output is more in the south of Iran (Bushehr province) than in the north of Iran (Mazandaran province). In the southern regions of the country (Bushehr province), there has been an increase in the relative humidity in the atmosphere, and this humidity, like a greenhouse gas, plays as a hurdle for existing long wavelength radiations. In the summer season, the role of lower latitude and the effects of the country’s mountains (Yazd province) increases, and as a result, the energy input and output from the earth’s surface increases, the effects of which are evident in the increase of entropy generation in Yazd province in the summer season. One of the reasons for the output radiation of long wavelength in the south of Iran (Bushehr province), and southeast of Iran (Yazd province), in the winter season, is the vertical angle of the sun and the longer duration of the sun’s radiation, which causes a lot of input energy to the earth’s surface and the lack of clouds in this area causes a large part of the solar energy to escape. In the winter season, the oblique angle of the sun, the shortness of the day, and the humidity and cloudiness of the atmosphere in higher latitudes (Mazandaran and Tehran provinces) prevent the entry of the incoming energy of the sun and as a result, reduce the output of the sun’s long wave radiation, and therefore, the entropy of the long wave radiation in these areas is less than others.

3.3 The latent heat content of water vapor (S_LEheat)

Latent heat is a huge heat transfer in the atmosphere. It is a phase change of water that absorbs surface heat. Sensible and latent heat flows are important forms of heat that flow through the earth’s energy balance. Water evaporation moves up and condenses in the atmosphere. This heat is higher than other heat flows on the ground.

Water vapor absorbs most of the infrared waves. The amount of atmospheric water vapor in summer is higher than that in winter due to higher temperatures (absolute humidity). Therefore, the amount of water vapor (under the same conditions) in summer is more than that in winter.

It is clear that winter has the lowest entropy generation in the form of sensible and latent heat flows in different climatic zones, which is related to the type of plant that can grow in these climatic zones in winter. It is undeniable that wet and cold climates have the highest value among different climatic zones. Mazandaran in the wet and cold climate is covered by forest and agricultural land, which is the main source of latent and sensible heat fluxes. In Bushehr, the surface area has almost a similar behavior in spring and summer, while in autumn changes in nature occur, leading to an increase in the generation of entropy from water evaporation (Figure 10c). Generally, in autumn, the entropy generation of latent and sensible heat has a little increase in both hot climates (wet and hot climate and dry and hot climate) in comparison to summer entropy generation (Figure 10a and b). Entropy generation in a dry and hot climate has a higher value in the center of Yazd. This is the Taft region near Shirkooh Mountain which is the highest region in Yazd province. Due to its altitude and rainfall, agricultural activities are the dominant economic activity in this region. So this area has a different behavior compared to other areas of this province. Entropy increment is more common in spring compared to other seasons in all climates. Winter decreases vegetation area, so, the ecosystem shows the least reaction in winter (Figure 10d).

Figure 10.

The entropy of sensible and latent heat flows in different climates in spring (a), summer (b), autumn (c), and winter (d) (W/m²).

Latent heat transport essentially couples the biosphere and atmosphere, as well as the mass and energy cycles associated with surface-atmosphere transport processes. Although vegetation growth by transpiration process attempts to establish local thermodynamic balance, this means that it maximizes the conductance of materials in the plant as well as greater productivity of the vegetation growth. As can be seen in the figures above, in areas with a dense vegetation cover, the amount of entropy caused by evapotranspiration is much higher than in other parts, and in the spring, in the northern regions of Iran (Mazandaran and Tehran provinces), and in the summer, South of the country, such as Bushehr and Yazd provinces, have the highest entropy due to high latent heat generation in line with increasing the vegetation growth. Latent heat transfer is also one of the primary processes related to entropy production in the atmosphere, and its amount is higher than other entropy productions in the atmosphere due to the phase change process.

3.4 Entropy of soil heat flux

Soil moisture is one of the most important soil variables that is widely used in the study and management of soil and water resources. It has a temporal and spatial nature and is one of the important components of climatic, ecological, and hydraulic models. Accordingly, the spatial distribution of soil moisture in different longitudes shows that the highest amount of soil moisture occurs at a longitude of 52°, and the lowest value occurs at longitudes of 46 and 62°. The maximum value also occurs at a latitude of 38°, and the lowest value occurs at latitudes of 30–32° [23].

To examine the amount of soil moisture, 133 images have been used, which were generated by the NASA-USDA Global Soil Moisture Data satellite in 2019 and early 2020.

As shown in Figure 11, Tehran has the lowest soil moisture content followed by Yazd and Bushehr. As can be seen, the soil moisture content increases everywhere in early spring. In summer, it decreases sharply and during autumn and winter, this value increases due to an increase in the amount of rainfall.

Figure 11.

Soil humidity of different provinces in different seasons.

Soil heat flux is greatly influenced by net radiation at a certain depth of the ground [24]. In this regard, the NOAA satellite dataset has been utilized to prepare the required data (topsoil (0–10 cm)).

In some areas, the negative soil entropy is observable. This shows that a part of negative entropy in the earth is formed inside the soil. It means that the soil tends to order and there is the least amount of chaos. In some seasons, in a wet and cold climate, it is clear that the entropy increases due to the vegetation process happening in the soil (Figure 12a and b). In autumn, the earth receives more organic materials from things, such as fallen leaves, which cover the soil surface (Figure 12c). Since the microorganism process is so slow, the effects of this reaction during a month are not considerable. So, the soil system can move towards sustainability. The wet and hot climate generates more entropy. This area is mostly covered with soil and does not have any conservative cover to prevent sunlight from directly reaching the soil (Figure 12d).

Figure 12.

The entropy of soil heat flux in different climatic zones storage in spring (a), summer (b), autumn (c), and winter (d) (W/m²).

Sensible heat flux is the rate of energy loss from the soil through convection and diffusion processes as a result of the temperature difference between the surface and the lowest layer of the atmosphere. In the winter season, this difference exists in all regions; therefore, as it is evident from the figures above, the amount of entropy production in the winter season is almost higher in all provinces. on the other hand, the heat flux in the soil is an important part of the energy balance of the crop. Soil acts as a great energy accumulator, which is able to store heat during the day and release it at the night. Something similar happens in annual conditions.

Since the driving force of entropy changes on the soil surface is rainfall, and the surface temperature changes, in areas with dense vegetation cover, the soil is wetter. So, the driving force has the necessary mass transfer to increase the entropy changes caused by heat transfer and phase change. In areas with more rainfall (Mazandaran and Tehran provinces), the soil has produced more soil entropy flux in the spring season, while in the winter and autumn season, Bushehr and Yazd provinces have more entropy changes.

3.5 The entropy of metabolic or biochemical energy storage

Vegetation is an essential component of the surface energy budget, ecosystem performance, and thermodynamic efficiency [25]. As shown in Figure 13, the trend of vegetation cover [26, 27] in different provinces has been studied using the MOD13Q1.006 Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day Global 250 m satellite dataset and the average value of the NDVI index has been calculated for each province for one year.

Figure 13.

Vegetation cover changes in case studies (MODIS satellite dataset).

As shown in Figure 13, Mazandaran province mainly has a dense vegetation cover in many seasons, while other provinces have weaker vegetation cover.

The color of objects is obtained from the ratio of absorption to reflection or the passage of radiation waves in the visible range so that if the body absorbs more of the radiation waves, its color will be dark, and in the opposite scenario, its color will appear light. It is the main reason for the entropy generation in autumn.

Plant transpiration in the forest and bare soil land use causes an increase in transpiration heat flux with temperature reduction. So, it plays a critical role in net entropy production on the earth.

In the current study, WAPOR data has been used for satellite imagery data processing. Net primary production (NPP) is studied during a month and the entropy generated in different seasons is determined based on the potential of biomass heat and biochemical energy storage in Gu et al.’s [28] studies. As shown in Figure 14a–d, the Bushehr and Mazandaran provinces had a similar procedure in the generation of entropy due to net primary production in winter. In spring and fall, the entropy of metabolic energy storage in Mazandaran is about twice as much as the other provinces except for Yazd province, where it covers bare land use, and season changes do not have any effects on the entropy generated by biochemical energy storage. In mountainous climates, the entropy due to metabolic energy storage has an almost constant trend, which is about half of the wet and cold climate zone. In summer, it only reaches half of its entropy value in other seasons. This limitation may be created due to water access restrictions, which have reduced agricultural activities.

Figure 14.

The entropy of metabolic or biochemical energy storage in spring (a), summer (b), autumn (c), and winter (d) (W/m²).

3.6 Heat storage

The photosynthesis process converts the low-entropy short-wave radiation energy to biochemical energy, which is formed in the vegetation area. Part of this energy is turned into vapor and leaves the plant. This heat energy generates high entropy. It follows a similar trend in biochemical entropy generation (Figure 15a–d). It completely depends on the evaporation and transpiration processes of the plant. This is a source of an increase in entropy in the plant. During this process, a phase change occurs, which needs more heat generation. This process leads to an entropy generation level, which is bigger than 10 times of entropy generation in the biochemical energy storage process.

Figure 15.

The entropy of biomass heat storage in spring (21 April–21 May 2019) (a), in summer (23 July–22 August 2019) (b), in autumn (23 October- 21 November 2019) (c), and in winter (21 January-19 February 2019) (d).

3.7 Entropy generation of different ecosystems in different climatic zones

In spring, we witness a lot of evapotranspiration, latent heat, and soil heat loss in green zones. Mazandaran and Tehran lands are composed of more vegetative surfaces rather than the rest. So, the entropy increment is observable in these two regions (Figure 16a–d), which is greater than in other regions. Bushehr has less vegetation land compared to other regions due to the saline quality of its soil. Then, nature will have less reaction to heat generation in this region.

Figure 16.

The entropy generation in spring (21 April–21 May 2019) (a), in summer (23 July-22 August 2019) (b), in autumn (23 October–21 November 2019) (c), and in winter (21 January–19 February 2019) (d).

The largest entropy generation occurs in spring. In spring, in cold and wet climates, the temperature is somewhat low due to heavy rainfall, and vegetation growth has a significant effect. Countless evolutions occur in this ecosystem, which causes a significant increase in entropy generation, while in winter, entropy generation of net primary production and evapotranspiration (latent and sensible heat) decreases and so does their influence on the entropy generation. Moreover, in a part of Mazandaran province, negentropy is observed. It shows that nature has made effort to achieve more order in its structure.

Conditions similar to that of Mazandaran province exist around Tehran province. The behavior of nature in this region is considerable due to natural evolution.

Yazd province does not have considerable vegetation cover, and natural evolution is not considered in this region. The main reason for entropy generation in this region is related to the difference between outgoing long-wave entropy flux to space and short-wave absorption. It generates frictional dissipation in the form of entropy produced by adiabatic heating by water phase change (i.e., evaporation and condensation temperature differ), frictional dissipation of falling raindrops, enthalpy transport (horizontal and vertical) by irreversible processes, and energy transport as a result of radiation exchange. The lack of vegetation cover leads to a decrease in the generation of entropy in this region.

In autumn, all regions have the same behavior in entropy generation. In this season, vegetation cover does not change considerably and due to the proximity to the mountain peaks and sea, the temperature decreases, which would become the main cause of entropy generation.

3.8 Carnot efficiency

Carnot efficiency indicates the maximum work of a heat engine. If an ecosystem is considered a heat engine, which has one cold sink (the atmosphere) and one hot source (the sun), it will be able to generate high-quality energy (work) because of the abundant energy of sunlight. This is due to unlimited access to energy (Figure 17).

Figure 17.

Carnot efficiency of the ecosystem.

Regarding a different climatic zone, the Carnot efficiency is evaluated in these areas. As can be seen, different ecosystems (different climatic conditions) can produce more than 95% useful work.

The entropy efficiency of the wet and cold climates (Figure 18a) is considerably higher than that of the other climates. In this climate, the use of vegetation land encompasses a wider area. It is able to increase the ecosystem’s ability to generate work.

Figure 18.

Carnot efficiency in a wet and cold climate (a), a wet and hot climate (b), a dry and hot climate (c), and a mountain climate (d).

Dry and hot climates (Figure 18c) include many desert or semi-desert areas, while in mountain climates, rural and urban land use is common. This phenomenon can have a considerable impact on ecosystem performance.

Other climates in some areas have similar behavior to these two climates (Figure 18b and d).

3.9 The nature efficiency of different climatic zones

In different systems, some losses can be minimized, but as entropy is always increasing they cannot be removed.; that is, the low-entropy heat energy is converted to the high-entropy level because of resource degradation [16]. We are witnessing a similar system in nature. The Sun provides the possibility of carbon uptake and respiration and maintenance, which can increase ecosystem performance. Low-grade entropy heat energy generates high-entropy heat energy in the ecosystem and it is the origin of countless natural phenomena.

Let us consider a plant and a leaf on it. The leaf absorbs solar energy, and the plant uses heat dissipation to grow more leaves and become a little better at absorbing energy. The energy can be used to dissipate more heat, grow more leaves, and absorb even more energy. It is a positive feedback loop that makes the plant get better and better at dissipating heat. This is a general phenomenon in all matters, living or not. Figure 19 is a general view of the nature-inspired steam turbine system.

Figure 19.

Ecosystem as a steam power plant.

As shown in Figure 19, nature is considered a steam generation cycle. A part of solar radiation energy is used for the carbon sequestration process, and the other part as losses is removed from the system. A part of the losses is used in the respiration process (steam turbine) to create growth and maintenance respiration. As a result of this process, a part of the energy is removed from the system as losses. Actually, in nature, some of the processes are used to discharge the entropy; that is, depending on the details of the internal processes of the system, the discharge of entropy (condenser in power plant systems) is required, and therefore some of the input energy is removed from the system due to stability requirements.

Living systems are not isolated; that is, they are parts of a larger system. When the entropy generated from energy transformations increases, the energy available for work decreases. In this regard, the purpose of this part is to investigate the effect of the temperature changes arising from season variations on entropy generation in different climatic zones. It is clear that human activities should be considered in this study. Here, different flows in nature are considered.

Mazandaran province is one of the greenest areas of Iran where intensive agricultural activities have always been done there. As can be seen in Figure 20a, in areas close to the sea, located in the north of Mazandaran province, due to tourism development, Urban land use has been predominant in this area, while in the southern areas of Mazandaran province, there have been many forests, and large amounts of crops have been cultivated in these areas. So, the cultivation in these areas is somewhat pristine, and as a result, the earth can breathe easily there.

Figure 20.

Entropy efficiency of nature in a wet and cold climate (a), a wet and hot climate (b), a dry and hot climate (c), and a mountain climate (d).

Due to the economic activities in the south of Bushehr, the entropy efficiency has had the lowest value in that area (south of Bushehr). On the contrary, in the northern areas of Bushehr, the land has great potential for the cultivation of various crops. Moreover, there are many forests in these areas, which are the main sources of organic carbon generation in the soil. Therefore, nature is more inclined to generate power in these areas (Figure 20b).

The quality in Yazd has a relatively uniform distribution. Many crops are harvested in spring and fall in Yazd. Therefore, nature is more able to use the input energy of the sunlight during these seasons (Figure 20c).

Figure 20d illustrates this in different seasons. In the center of Tehran, we are witnessing a lot of anthropological activities; while in the countryside of Tehran particularly near the south and west sides of Tehran, nature has the potential needed for agricultural activities.

4. Conclusions

In spring, due to the growth of plants, chemical reactions lead to entropy generation. This behavior is more in Mazandaran province due to the high level of vegetation area regarding its climate. In the winter season, this province has the minimum growth rate and therefore has less entropy production. Other provinces have grown mildly due to the type of climate. So, they have a greater increase in the entropy generation than Mazandaran province. In the autumn season, due to the change in receiving light wavelengths, chlorophyll reactions are not performed, therefore, the amount of entropy production in this area is also lower than in the spring season. In the summer season, due to the high sunlight absorption, plant growth decreases in many northern regions such as Mazandaran and Tehran proviences, so entropy production in this time zone has reduced. This is even though in the winter season, as the location of Yazd and Bushehr in the southern region, the absorption of sunlight is suitable for plant growth in these areas, and therefore, entropy generation increases in these areas in the winter season.

Moreover, in the spring season, evapotranspiration occurs in areas with more vegetation cover. So, the amount of water generation will be higher in these areas. The latent heat content of water vapor in terms of entropy generation is greater in these areas. In other words, the behavior of biological growth is effective on the rate of evapotranspiration, which leads to an increase in the entropy generated due to the latent heat process.

Considering that all the processes in nature are very slow, the variation of entropy generation is not very noticeable. So, the efficiency of nature, and the natural Carnot efficiency are very close. This means that despite the changes in the generated entropy caused by the processes, the self-organization of nature has occurred in terms of negentropy, which leads to increases the nature’s efficiency. Since human activities are not included in this study, it is assumed that only self-organization has happened in different areas. Otherwise, it will create a problem and reduce the yield of nature and the yield of nature’s life.

Nature is always evolving. These changes seem to be systemized via interaction with different biotic and abiotic activities. The only important principle is to reach sustainability, how we shall find the natural approach in the energy systems. Nature reacts to various side effects of anthropological activities. This process is everlasting. The more the knowledge about nature, the more the understanding about the end of life on the earth.

Data availability statement

All of the chapter’s data has been provided by the Satelite dataset.