Can you stop hurricanes

It's very unpromising. Not so long ago, the idea of bending a hurricane to our will wasn't so far fetched or fringe science. It was the mainstream.

Starting in the s, Nobel Prize winning scientists such as Irving Langmuir, and even famed American writer Kurt Vonnegut's older brother, Bernard Vonnegut, an atmospheric scientist, got in the mix of weather modification. Believing man could stop or move hurricanes was mainstream science from the s until a military program looking into matter went bust in the early s.

Bernard Vonnegut is credited with figuring out that silver iodide could be used effectively in cloud seeding to create rain and snow. The concept drew in the likes of Bob Simpson, National Hurricane Center director from to and co-developer of the Saffir—Simpson Hurricane Scale that categorizes hurricanes by their strength.

The military tried to seed clouds to tame a hurricane. Scientists had discovered in that water vapor condenses on the microscopic particles to form ice crystals that drop down as rain.

But how might that weaken a hurricane? Think of an ice skater who spins faster when her arms are tucked in tight, but slows when her arms are extended. The idea was to create heat transfer outside the eye wall, forming a new larger, slower-spinning eye wall that would rob moisture from the old eye wall. Navy planes seeded four hurricanes. But researchers couldn't tell whether the storms weakened because of the seeding or natural processes.

Even Microsoft founder Bill Gates weighed in on hurricane suppression a decade ago. He proposed using hundreds of huge ocean-going tubs to drain warm water from the surface to deeper water, through a long tube, weakening storms as they form.

Cost, scale and when and where to put such contraptions are the stumbling blocks to such an idea, Willoughby said. About us. Obituaries Homes Jobs Classifieds. Careers Advertise Legal Contact. Log in. Account Manage my subscription Activate my subscription Log out. Local Weather.

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But in the end, NOAA decided that cloud seeding had little chance of success. It calls the system Salter Sink. A company video explains the system would use a large pump, powered by ocean waves, to push hot water from the surface down into cooler water below.

The hot water would travel through a plastic container known as a Salter Sink. The idea was that the water being forced down would mix with cooler water and then return to the surface to help weaken a hurricane.

Several studies have predicted that warming waters in the Atlantic Ocean are expected to increase the number of major hurricanes in the coming years. Currently, the United States and neighboring countries are now entering the most active part of the hurricane season.

It remains to be seen whether the number and size of future storms will fuel additional research into new solutions aimed at stopping them. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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