How to Stop a Tornado

I believe for Man to evolve into an intergalactic species he must first be able to control his environment on Earth.
When man built the first shelter from the weather thousands of years ago the journey began. It is time to progress further and take more control of the environment.

Tornadoes are one ot he most destructive natural phenomena facing man on Earth. Can man stop tornadoes from developing? And once developed could they be destroyed?

Here is one idea currently being considered by scientists:

Recent research indicates that in order to form, a tornado needs both a cold, rainy downdraft and a warm updraft. To stop a tornado from forming, just heat this cold downdraft until it's cold no longer. And how would one do this, you ask? Simple: Blast it with beams of microwaves from a fleet of satellites. The satellites would collect solar energy, transform it into microwaves, and send a beam down to Earth. The beams would be focused on cold downdrafts, heating them like last night's leftovers. The European Space Agency has funded initial studies on building this type of satellite, though it hopes to use the satellites as high-altitude solar-power stations, not as weather modifiers.

Other ideas that might be considered might include solar mirrors reflecting and concentrating the suns energy to disrupt the tornado formation and to stop it if it has already formed. And how about Star-Wars technology using high intensity laser weapons to disrupt and then blow the tornado apart?

What do you think? Is man ready to venture into a future where he can rule his own environment?

-AlenView

And what would be the human and animal cost of blasting a localised area with microwaves be? If this was used and I was in a tornado alert zone, I think I would be more scared of being baked alive than killed by the tornado.

I don't think we should be trying to control the environment but living in harmony with it. If houses in tornado alley were build from concrete in a streamlined shape AND had basements, yes there would be other damage but most lives would be saved.

Lasers and microwaves will kill more people than a tornado.. for that reason, I'm out.

reply to post by AlienView

The satellites would collect solar energy, transform it into microwaves, and send a beam down to Earth. The beams would be focused on cold downdrafts, heating them like last night's leftovers.

The only problem is, microwaves don't heat air. Go turn on your microwave oven with nothing in it for a while. Does the air in it get hot? Warm even?

Other ideas that might be considered might include solar mirrors reflecting and concentrating the suns energy to disrupt the tornado formation and to stop it if it has already formed.

Aren't tornadoes associated with thunderstorms. Aren't thunderstorms associated with heavy cloud cover?

reply to post by Phage

The tornado would be sucking up a lot of earth, etc. There would be plenty of 'stuff' to heat the surrounding air.

The solar mirrors would be 'outside' the local storm and it is conceivable that the beamed heat could penetrate through the atmosphere.

The tornado would be sucking up a lot of earth, etc. There would be plenty of 'stuff' to heat the surrounding air.

So then instead of having cars, trees and roofs flying about, you would have red hot burning cars, trees and molten metal flying about...

The solar mirrors would be 'outside' the local storm and it is conceivable that the beamed heat could penetrate through the atmosphere.

It is not conceivable. Solar energy reflects off clouds so penetrating the storm with solar energy would not be possible.

reply to post by AlienView

The tornado would be sucking up a lot of earth, etc. There would be plenty of 'stuff' to heat the surrounding air.

Think about what you just said. "Sucking up" a lot of earth, etc.
Does that sound like a downdraft to you? What do you think air does when you heat it? Do you think heating the air within a tornado will make it do less "sucking up"?

The solar mirrors would be 'outside' the local storm and it is conceivable that the beamed heat could penetrate through the atmosphere.

And do what? Heat the area outside of the storm?

The quote I gave came from an article on the web from Popular Science. It was not my idea but supposedly they are talking about what scientists are actually considering. They posted the article in response to someone who asked:

Reader R..... H.... of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, asks: "Is there some way a small, nondeadly atomic bomb could somehow blow apart a tornado as it forms, averting any damage the storm might bring?"

They responded with the quote I gave you and also:

While some might assume this idea to be an absurd one, we were willing to check it out (even the "nondeadly atomic bomb" part). And lo, it turns out that researchers are currently hard at work devising ways to control the weather—particularly disastrous weather systems like tornados and hurricanes—and hope to put their ideas to the test in the coming decades. Any storm depends on a host of complex, interrelated drivers, like heat flows and wind movements. The basic anti-storm strategy is to take the smallest of these factors, the one most amenable to change, and change it—in the manner, say, of throwing a wrench into the smallest cog at a factory in hopes that disrupting one part of the system will cause the entire assembly line to shut down.

So you see these concepts are not just my AlienView but are in fact mainstream science - Or at least the science of the not so distant future..



Here is the whole article:
www.popsci.com...

reply to post by AlienView


How about creating an Artificial tornado , which spins in opposite direction to the original one , and colliding them ?

Humans will never control the elements. Not for dastardly deeds nor for altruistic efforts.

If the earth decides to quake, she will quake. Blow us away, we will be blown away. Envelop us with her molten blood, we will sizzle.

Nothing we can do will stop the momentum the earth has. We can not stop the sun from burning, or the cold from freezing. And somewhere in between, is where we find ourselves.

Originally posted by CosmicQuest
reply to post by AlienView

 

How about creating an Artificial tornado , which spins in opposite direction to the original one , and colliding them ?

Sounds good but by the time we are able to create a tornado I would think we would have the ability to take one apart. Still what you say might have merit.

I still see a New Dawn science in the not so distant future that will rival anything you might imagine and will exceed the imagination of the science fiction writers of today.

reply to post by AlienView


Stopping a tornado. Yeeaaaahhh, riiiight. Tell me, how often were you sleeping during physics lessons in your class?

How to stop a tornado??I think there is no pause button in this one,and if there was a way i would bet it on electromagnetic fields to change the flow of air by charging up,but if you change the temperature of a tornado will it change its speed?Is hot air going faster than cold air? or the opposite?

Hi weather watchers.

I think the "tricks" should be done from high in the atmosphere, not from orbit.
Not from orbit because a satellite does not stay in place long enough.

The best? way could be a blimp, VERY high in the atmosphere. So, during the day
it could have PLENTY of time to heat the required spot of the cloud. . .
safely high out of the "problem" down there. . . B-)

Blue skies.

reply to post by AlienView


I think it makes more sense, both economically and practically, not to mention safely, to reverse the idea the scientists present.

Blast the warm rising air, with cold instead of blasting the falling cold air with heat.

Specially adapted and armoured trucks could house tanks of Liquid Nitrogen and spraying gear.

A fleet would be housed in tornado affected areas, ready to rush to a developing storm front, much as 'tornado chasers' do now.

If the warm rising air is reduced to friged temperatures before it has a chance to react with the cold downdrafts, no tornato can or will form.

Surround or encircle the proto-tornado, high pressure sprayers let loose with LN2 from all directions, the resulting LN2 mist dramatically eliminates the warm rising air....result is no energy for the tornado and it fizzles out before it begins.

MUCH cheaper, MUCH safer and is something we can do right now.

reply to post by Phage

The only problem is, microwaves don't heat air. Go turn on your microwave oven with nothing in it for a while. Does the air in it get hot? Warm even?

The thinking is not to heat the air directly with microwaves, but the moisture contained within the atmosphere, that will pass on the heat to the air...to use your example, put a cup of water in a microwave and see it heat up.

Their approach is wrong though IMO, too technical, too dangerous and costly.

reply to post by MysterX

Your idea sounds good on paper. The thing is that Popular Science article I was quoting gives no indication that they are actually doing anything as to real tests on what might work. I think its an economic thing. Who is going to fund the research? Truth is our economic system thrives [to some extent] on destruction. Tornado rips up a town and destroys most of the houses gives more jobs to construction crews who will rebuild the destruction. The millions or billions of dollars they claim are lost every-time a tornado strikes are made up for by the billions that will be made when they rebuild it. That many lives are being lost is not part of the equation.. I hate to say it but in this case if government doesn't fund it it won't get done - and you know how the anti-government spending group has been howling lately.

reply to post by AlienView

The millions or billions of dollars they claim are lost every-time a tornado strikes are made up for by the billions that will be made when they rebuild it.

Sort of depends on your point of view. Where do those billions spent on recovery come from?

It is important to note that the net effect is positive because most of the recovery funds are from external sources—the federal government and insurance claims. Those funds would have gone to some other use if the tornadoes had not struck or caused the devastation. As such, from a national perspective, the combined impact is negative.

cber.cba.ua.edu...

I'd hate to be near that tornado when they are blasting it with microwaves from a satelite. I don't especially care to be cooked. I'll take my chances hiding from the tornado in the celler

The millions or billions of dollars they claim are lost every-time a tornado strikes are made up for by the billions that will be made when they rebuild it. Sort of depends on your point of view. Where do those billions spent on recovery come from? It is important to note that the net effect is positive because most of the recovery funds are from external sources—the federal government and insurance claims. Those funds would have gone to some other use if the tornadoes had not struck or caused the devastation. As such, from a national perspective, the combined impact is negative.

reply to post by Phage

That is a good point. And also a good reason as to why they should figure out a way to prevent or stop tornadoes.
Of course this is easier said then done. Does anyone know if besides theorizing on how to do it, are there any scientific or government groups actually doing any experiments to actually put the theories into play - or is it still science fiction?

You can't stop a tornado. I agree with the poster who said the best way to save lives is to build differently. If you angle the outside walls of buildings and reenforce them, tornadoes will just hop right over the buildings. Just like those tornado proof cars.

But stopping a tornado? No way.
That storm that killed those chasers the other day actually had tornadoes forming along the lead cell's outflow boundary. That is unheard of. You simply do not have the amount of energy available you would need to confront a storm that strong.

Tornadoes are the most violent force on this planet. We are puny in comparison.