Solar pond Stirling

[Crazyguy]

Here's my idea. I have a pond that's 13 feet deep. In the summer the surface of the pond gets warm, whereas the bottom is ice cold. Could I use this temperature differential to run an LTD stirling or Alpha Stirling? Remember the cold side is 13 feet down , at the bottom of the pond.

[skyofcolorado]

would give during a sunny day useful work (energy) based on the difference in temperature between the Sun and the water in your pond, while simultaneously storing unused heat in the pond, while during the night it would draw stored energy from the pond and convert it into useful work based on the temperature difference between warm pond and cold night atmospheres.

I like this idea. I am building a large LTD using ground temp differentials, but have been concerned about the ability to conduct enough heat through our soil at the depth needed. Water would be better. Perhaps not a pond exactly, but a standard poly storage tank, well insulated. Further, the engine need not be in the pond or tank - it should be easy enough to circulate water into and out of the storage system to the engine with very little power loss.