Scientific American Mag discussing controlling hurricanes

Wow, this gives me pause for thought. Would the world be better off if we could guide these massive storms away from our populated regions or would we be tampering with nature and unable to forsee the repurcussions of such action? Terrifying, wonderful... either? Both. Heck of an article, and courtesy of slashdot, another take on the realities of hurricane control. Hope this is formatted right.

Scientific American
What is more, it turns out the very thing that makes forecasting any weather difficult--the atmosphere's extreme sensitivity to small stimuli--may well be the key to achieving the control we seek. Our first attempt at influencing the course of a simulated hurricane by making minor changes to the storm's initial state, for example, proved remarkably successful, and the subsequent results have continued to look favorable, too.

and the slashdotter's take on it is below
How could this be accomplished? Here are a few ideas: 1) ocean plowing, 2) wind energy ocean cooling, and 3) transported icebergs. An explanation of each of these ideas follows.

Bump!

"A chaotic system is one that appears to behave randomly but is, in fact, governed by rules. It is also highly sensitive to initial conditions, so that seemingly insignificant, arbitrary inputs can have profound effects that lead quickly to unpredictable consequences. In the case of hurricanes, small changes in such features as the ocean's temperature, the location of the large-scale wind currents (which drive the storms' movements), or even the shape of the rain clouds spinning around the eye can strongly influence a hurricane's potential path and power."

"The relatively small, artificial alterations to the [model] storm's initial conditions had propagated through the complex set of nonlinear equations that simulated the storm to result in the desired relocation after six hours."

"Further, it is possible that relatively minor alterations to our normal activities--such as directing aircraft flight plans to precisely position contrails and thus increase cloud cover"

A must read if you are interested in weather modification. The man is using computer models to "see what would happen if...." with past storms. Changing ocean temp 1 degree for example redirects a hurricane away from a major city.

Sri Oracle

Some will argue tropical weather modification already exists and is being used for destructive purposes, but I have yet to see proof in those regards.

I like the idea of the ablility to stear destructive vortexes away from land, but the experimental phase would be tough to stomach for the populace. Makes me wonder if they would actually tell the public that they were trying to manipulate the weather, but I see it as a necessary evil for the betterment of global climate control in the long run.

Here's some information on a current ionization project going on in Northern Mexico and Texas.

Electric Rainmaking Technology Gets Mexico's Blessing
Ionization technology is called either IOLA (ionization of the local atmosphere) by Earthwise or ELAT (electrification of the atmosphere) by the company ELAT. IOLA and ELAT compete with conventional cloud seeding, which – though it also remains scientifically unproven – is used in more than 24 countries and 10 U.S. states.

Bruni: Rain "A Done Deal"
"It's a done deal," Webb County Judge Louis H. Bruni announced Monday after signing a $1.2 million contract for a weather modification project, known as Provaqua. It is expected to increase rainfall in the Rio Grande basin by at least 15 percent.

Weather Modification Into the 21st Century
Its history began in the mid '70’s when Dr. Pokhmelnykh, a Russian scientist, started researching the effects of electricity in the atmosphere. In the 1980’s, while working at the USSR Meteorological Protection Laboratory in Moscow, Dr. Pokhmelnykh continued his work in weather modification. His research led to the development of Dr. Pokhmelnykh's first patented atmospheric ionization technology and the establishment of ELAT, a Moscow-based weather modification company.


[edit on 20-9-2005 by Regenmacher]

Changing ocean temp 1 degree for example redirects a hurricane away from a major city.

Sure, but how much energy does it take to achieve that one degree?

Answer....A LOT!!!

While research into affecting the formation, path etc. of hurricanes might be a good idea, I think more emphasis should be put on how to better protect hurricane prone areas. Over time, as building codes are adjusted to require stronger buildings, shelters are designed to withstand the impact of extreme hurricanes etc the concern over hurricanes and their impact will diminish.

Originally posted by Sri Oracle
Bump!

" seemingly insignificant, arbitrary inputs can have profound effects that lead quickly to unpredictable consequences. "

"The relatively small, artificial alterations to the [model] storm's initial conditions had propagated through the complex set of nonlinear equations that simulated the storm to result in the desired relocation after six hours."

Sri Oracle

Two problems I see. First, the weather is infinitely more complex than any computer model. Otherwise, we would have 100% accurate forecasts all the time. Secondly, making small, arbitrary changes to the storm's conditions would be pointless or even dangerous when we don't know what the results will be. Well OK, it's one problem with two related subpoints. Nice to think about though.

In any event, hurricanes, like all weather, serve a purpose in maintaining climate. They transport heat from the equatorial regions into higher latitudes. Redirecting them might be OK, but I know in the past people looked for ways to literally destroy them, which IMO would be a terrible idea.