Bill Gates fill technology patents to suppress hurricanes

[AdamFirst]

He should waste his billions of dollars doing other things.

[Duddy]

What ever happened to cloud seeding? I remember as a kid seeing shows on the Discovery channel where they "seeded" a storm in the eastern pacific(?) and within a few hours it completely dissipated.

Was it harmful to the environment or something?

[Cyclenall]

What ever happened to cloud seeding? I remember as a kid seeing shows on the Discovery channel where they "seeded" a storm in the eastern pacific(?) and within a few hours it completely dissipated.

Was it harmful to the environment or something?

I don't know what channel you were watching because cloud seeding has never caused a tropical cyclone to dissipate in a few hours as far as I know. If that indeed happened, then the program would still be here today.

[wxman57]

What ever happened to cloud seeding? I remember as a kid seeing shows on the Discovery channel where they "seeded" a storm in the eastern pacific(?) and within a few hours it completely dissipated.

Was it harmful to the environment or something?

Do a Google search on "Project Stormfury", a program that was run in the 1960s and 1970s. The theory was to seed the area outside the eyewall with silver iodide crystals in an attempt to draw energy from the eyewall and make a new larger eyewall form. The reduced pressure gradient would result in lower winds at the core. One problem with such efforts is that our ability to predict natural core changes is so bad that no one could tell if any changes that occurred after seeding would have occurred even if there had been no seeding (natural eyewall replacement cycles). I believe that they wanted to expand the program into the West Pacific where they had many more TCs each year but the Japanese were strongly against any TC modification, as they depend on them for rainfall.

Now one thing that the above theory didn't take into consideration is that an expanded eye (and thus expanded radius of max winds - RMW) would result in lesser winds but it would produce a larger storm surge. Ike, Katrina and Rita would be examples of hurricanes with expanded eyes but a weaker core. Sure, the wind field expanded and each hurricane lacked the intense tight eye, but I think no one would argue that these hurricanes were still quite deadly.

[Category 5]

People still use Internet Exploder?

Hard to believe.

I agree with WX57, lets just nuke them.

[Ptarmigan]

Yeah! A couple dozen hydrogen bombs set off simultaneously around the core of a hurricane should do the trick. No new technology needed! As a side benefit, most of the fish in the Atlantic would glow in the dark for decades, making them easier to find for fishermen.

While we're at it, we get a hypercane that comes hitting towards the Gulf! The glowing fish would be cool sight.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Two mylar screens in geosynchronous orbit, huge puppies, over the Gulf and Atlantic MDR would do the trick.


Of course, the Gulf Stream could weaken, and winters in Europe might get much colder and drier.


Maybe just limited sized mylar screens just off the US coastlines in outer space...less cooling of the Atlantic and overall unexpected climatic shifts worldwide.

[Pearl River]

Heck,if Bill wants to waste billions, he can send some my way, I'll be more than happy to waste it for him

Edited post by Cycloneye

[Derek Ortt]

CUE THE CIRCUS MUSIC

http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/fil ... _short.mp3

[Ptarmigan]

CUE THE CIRCUS MUSIC

http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/fil ... _short.mp3

Let's bring in the clowns while we're at it.

[vbhoutex]

Saw a blurb on the news this evening about the ship deployment and they stated that what would be needed for it to "work" would be many billions more than he even has.

[SEASON_CANCELED]

I cant wait for technology to make these terrible storms extinct. The days are numbered, but not anytime soon. Bill Gates should just donate his money to relief

[melhow]

Whatever happened to good ol' Dyn-O-Gel?

[Derek Ortt]

I cant wait for technology to make these terrible storms extinct. The days are numbered, but not anytime soon. Bill Gates should just donate his money to relief

and please explain how else heat will be transferred from the tropics to the poles?

The canes are not the problem. It is living in the coastal flood plain that is the problem

[Macrocane]

I cant wait for technology to make these terrible storms extinct. The days are numbered, but not anytime soon. Bill Gates should just donate his money to relief

You're being sarcastic, right?

[Thunder44]

I cant wait for technology to make these terrible storms extinct. The days are numbered, but not anytime soon. Bill Gates should just donate his money to relief

and please explain how else heat will be transferred from the tropics to the poles?

The canes are not the problem. It is living in the coastal flood plain that is the problem

I agree. Instead, we should be finding ways to suppress housing development along the coast. But I guess that wouldn't be good for the economy right now.

[Frank2]

...and, it's "Bill Gates files technology patents to suppress hurricanes"...

It's the arrogance of mankind to want to do something as foolish as trying to control the weather...

It's similar to that recent cell phone company commercial where the bride-to-be is whining because it's raining on her outdoor wedding, and the wedding coordinator gives the computer genius a two-way cell phone command to "cue the rain" - and it stops raining...

Right...

This morning there was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand that no one predicted, so, that speaks for itself when it concerns the Earth and it's natural and mysterious ways...

While modest success is found in agri-business cloud seeding and fog dispersion near airports, that is about the extent of weather modification so far...

When you look at the vastness of the universe and how small the earth is in comparison (even in comparison to our own sun - it'd be like comparing a pea to a basketball), we have to stop thinking that we can solve all of the world's problems by throwing technology at it...

God must shake His head at our wanting to do His job...

Oh, well...

P.S. I did work for the Project Stormfury staff during their last season of cloud seeding (1980), so know for a fact that these experiments, while well-meaning, do not work...