NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association) experts have poured “cold water” on hurricane control schemes. Including the schemes that actually use cold water. This article will take a look at the proverbial “pipe dream” of hurricane control and propose a practical solution. There are currently a variety of different hurricane control proposals.
Hurricane control in the current context really means weakening hurricane force winds. The destructive damage a hurricane inflicts is proportional to the square of the wind speed. Hurricanes are wind storms in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. In the Western North Pacific and the Philippines, wind storms are called typhoons. Cyclones are wind storms in the Indian and South Pacific Oceans. When the ocean temperature is about 80 degrees F (26 C) or higher, a hurricane can occur. Hurricanes operate by drawing warm air from the ocean through the eye of the hurricane. It is a convection process with hot air that rises less densely. Current hurricane control methods attempt to disrupt this convection process.
First let’s take a look at “cloud seeding”. Cloud seeding is done to increase precipitation by introducing small particles of various chemicals into the air from the ground or through the air. These particles work their way into the eyewall of the hurricane to disrupt the upward flow of moist air. Another proposed method is to cool ocean waters where hurricanes with long vertical tubes are likely to develop. These wave-driven pumps would bring hot surface water to the bottom and force cold water up. Again, this would interrupt the convection process. Giant-sized fans have even been proposed to push the hurricane back into the Atlantic Ocean. Animated “cartoon-like” procedures, while well-intentioned, do not work for the following reasons. The sheer size and power of a hurricane make such schemes unworkable. Information from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory provides insight into the power of a hurricane.
An example is Hurricane Andrew that hit South Florida in 1992. The area of ​​destruction was 20 miles wide. The thermal energy in this hurricane eye was “5000 times” the heat and electrical power generation of the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant that the eye passed over. The kinetic energy of the wind at any instant was comparable to that released by a nuclear warhead. A realistic hurricane control system would have to be ready to go live within 1 day. Only about 10% of tropical systems that form become hurricanes. Trying to attack them early would be a wasted effort. The hurricane control system should be able to come into operation when the hurricane is at least Category 1 and is heading toward a populated area.
I am proposing a modification of a fairly popular and proven method of lessening the destructive power of a hurricane. The method I am referring to is Space Solar Power. Solar panels in Earth orbit can convert solar energy into a microwave beam. This microwave beam can be directed at the eyewall of a hurricane to heat it and interfere with the hurricane convection process. A government project called HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) has shown that microwave energy can be directed at the ionosphere and heat it.
Space solar power projects to control hurricanes involve launching a satellite into orbit. Until this method is fully tested. A cheaper approach would be to save the cost of the launch and the satellite and mount the microwave equipment on a ship. Microwave ionospheric heaters could be powered by standard electric car batteries and the ship could be recharged when in port. This ship could be under the supervision of a state government and commissioned by the governor of a potentially affected state. The spacecraft could stay away from the eyewall of the hurricane and point its microwave antennas at an angle of 45 degrees or less. This ship could go into action on 4 hours’ notice. If this plan works, another ship can be built and sold to another state or foreign country for a profit.
Current weather trends make this plan more effective. A NOAA research study found that global warming has caused hurricanes around the world to move more slowly and stay longer in populated areas. There, by causing more damage and increasing the chances of flooding in the area the hurricane is hovering over. Something must be done to at least try to minimize the impact of hurricanes.