Would nuking a hurricane kill it?

[Cape Verde]

I have a co-worker who insists that we could safely destroy a hurricane out in the Atlantic by dropping a nuclear bomb in the eye. His theory is that it would create high pressure inside the low, and effectively cause the storm to disintegrate.<P>This would be a violation of existing treaties, of course, and would never be permitted for a variety of reasons. I also doubt that it would work because hurricanes are far more powerful than nuclear weapons. But I'm not a weather expert and I'm having trouble arguing with him on a scientific basis.<P>Surely this idea has been floated before. Would it work?

[TheGlaweman]

I would imagine that the tropical winds would just do a terrific job of spreading fallout over an extremely wide area....

[Stephanie]

Perhaps, but the death toll from that, not to mention the destruction of the area affected by the blast would be FAR WORSE than what any hurricane would do.

[abajan]

Not only would fallout be spread around but rather than weakening the hurricane you might end up strengthening it!

(those nukes release lots of energy)

[GalvestonDuck]

I've kinda wondered if there was a way to "speed-cool" the water ahead of a storm (liquid nitrogen?) without contaminating the ocean with chemicals or do something like that.

I know there's that Dyno-Mat dude that insists he has a way to kill them, but obviously he'd be rich by now if his way worked.

You'd think, in the same way they intercepted the meteor in Armegeddon, there should be a way to intercept a hurricane before landfall.

[Stormsfury]

I would imagine that the tropical winds would just do a terrific job of spreading fallout over an extremely wide area....

Bingo .. you'd have a radioactive hurricane ...

SF

[x-y-no]

A very large nuke might temporarily disrupt a hurricane - but the energies involved in any really large storm are orders of magnitude greater than the energy released by even the largest weapon. The storm would very quickly recover its structure, and would spread fallout over thousands od square miles.

It would be an ingredibly stupid thing to do. I don't imagine even our current administration would be that foolish.

[Varanidae]

Thats the most rediculous thing I have ever come across. *blink*... Why, thats like setting fire to a shirt to get a stain out of it.

[Cape Verde]

Perhaps, but the death toll from that, not to mention the destruction of the area affected by the blast would be FAR WORSE than what any hurricane would do.

<P>Fallout would be a problem, perhaps, but this would occur over the empty ocean. Countless nuclear weapons have been detonated over the oceans in the past 50 years for testing purposes.

[Varanidae]

ok.. i am sorry for that. I was rude.

[Anonymous]

Do you know the amount of head and energy a nuke releases? It could make the hurricane strengthen for all we know. Bad idea.

[Innotech]

nukes release heat. hurricanes=heat engines. Ergo, nuking hurricane=making Cat 7=BAD idea.

[MBryant]

The total energy of hurricanes is truly enormous. I don't have an exact figure, but I guess a hurricane expends about one Hiroshima size bombs worth of energy every second. It just isn't concentrated so it doesn't seem as destructive. A nuke introduced into this environment would simply be the worlds biggest Dirty Bomb.

[Cape Verde]

nukes release heat. hurricanes=heat engines. Ergo, nuking hurricane=making Cat 7=BAD idea.

<P>I like that argument.

[Stephanie]

Perhaps, but the death toll from that, not to mention the destruction of the area affected by the blast would be FAR WORSE than what any hurricane would do.

<P>Fallout would be a problem, perhaps, but this would occur over the empty ocean. Countless nuclear weapons have been detonated over the oceans in the past 50 years for testing purposes.

I forgot about that. However, those were detonated in calm conditions, not storms. Still, the fallout alone and what it may do to the hurricane's strength (i.e. possibly increasing) is not worth it IMHO.

[Storminole]

The detonation of nuclear weapons above ground was banned by the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963. I agree with those who feel that it would result in an intensification of the hurricane through the warming of the convective clouds as well as the ocean water below.

And the storm's upper level outflow would disperse the radioactive fallout far across the globe. Probably a very bad idea.

[PTPatrick]

somebody said our current administration wasnt stupid enough to do it...he he he...if you say so

[Varanidae]

ok, after my regretable knee-jerk reaction to the idea of using a nuke to bring down a hurricane, I decided to go ask someone who would know the answer to that question. This person works in the international military community creating models and simulations for wargaming. According to him, a tactical nuclear warhead only has a blast radius of a few miles, and the bulk of the energy would be forced upwards out of the eye of the storm... heat rises and the low pressure center would only force it up and out. If the storm flowed out from the center instead of in, it may work, but since it doesnt, it wont. He said a tactical nuke has almost no power in relation to what a hurricane has.

[obxhurricane]

Bottom line...Tropical cyclones are an important part of Earths cooling system. It is not something we as humans need to to try and stop.

[ajaxw]

This question has been addressed in the HRD's Hurricane FAQ under the subheading of C : TROPICAL CYCLONE MODIFICATION AND MYTHS: C5c) Why don't we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them ?. A key excerpt:

The main difficulty with using explosives to modify hurricanes is the amount of energy required. A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.

By the way, the rest of the FAQ is good reading for those new to tropical cyclones.