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Badwater Basin, part of Death Valley, is 282 feet (86 m) below sea level at its lowest point.

The "Exciting" drilling company, based in Nevada (they are exciting and not at all like their b**ing competitors even though they too bore), dug an underground canal connecting the Pacific to Death valley. Boom, instant saltwater lake, complete with tides.

They also installed turbines in the canal, and now are the #1 suppliers of clean energy in the mid-west. But this is not a question about energy generation. I posted it in a separate entry.

We have water covering the hottest dump in all of the Mojave Desert.

We can safely assume the water will evaporate, because the Mojave is hot. But how will this gigantic saltwater lake affect climate in the Mojave? Will it make rainfall in Las Vegas commonplace? Will it be a complete catastrophe? Revitalize the desert? Cause mass extinction of desert wildlife?

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    $\begingroup$ Luckily Mother Nature has already made the experiment for us. We have the Arabian Desert surrounded by two Very Large bodies of salt water, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Both are very hot, and a lot of water evaporates. Is rain common place in Mecca? $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jul 24, 2022 at 1:33

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Let us make a comparision with Bahrain (The Kingdom of Bahrain consists of 34 Islands.)

Bahrain Mojave
Rainfall (average, per year) 2.79" 7"
Snowfall 0" 1.1"
Precipitation (annual) 9.9 days 24.8 days
Temperature (Winter) 10 - 20 °C (50 - 68 °F) 0 °C (32 °F)
Temperature (Summer) 40 - 46 °C (104 - 115 °F) 36.5 °C (97.7 °F)
Humidity 67% (May) - 81% (December) 10% (summer afternoon) - 50% (winter nights)

So the lake will only increase humidity (or may be winter temperature)

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