weather manipulation

[bda]

ok . . second try . . engineering students, this is for you . . in theory, isnt it possible we could "tweak" our weather? we build skyscrapers, so certainly we can build skyscraper like structures with huge fans atop them. im not suggesting we could blow hurricanes away from our shores . . but maybe this could help in areas with a history of drought or flooding. with all the billions of tax dollars used every year towards disaster relief/farm subsidies plus the insurance payouts; im willing to bet this could pay for itself. of course there would be political issues to be dealt with, i would just like some feedback about the engineering aspects of such a project. yes, im very serious.

[funneefarmer]

Well you probably allready have a test bed in the various wind farms (generators). Instead of producing electricity, reverse it and start producing wind. Granted we're talking a small scale operation but it would make a good erxperiment.

I mentioned the first time, IIRC, that you would probably have better luck with cloud seeding than with large mechanical structures. With more research we may find a way to cloud seed areas of a storm to increase or decrease intensity or change their direction.

Why do you ask, working on The Avengers sequel ?

[Markxxx]

It seems like the jist of all weather altering schemes seems to be that once you control it, it could leave you open to lawsuits.

For example you stop a hurricane from hitting Miami and it turns and hits Jacksonville.

[aseymayo]

I think the problem is these structures would be the Quantum Butterfly approach to weather control - we'd end up creating floods in China or something - with either little direct effect on our own weather or a big nasty bad effect we hadn't counted on.

This could lead to elaborate treaties with other nations who could have a positive effect weatherwise - "Okay, now everyone in Rangoon go outside and wave your arms - Lawrence Kansas needs rain!"

[Erik Raven]

I saw this and just started laughing.... Not that I'm an engineering student are anything.
I just read this book, "The Invisible Airforce," about Air America and the various CIA-run airlines. Apparently some pilots were running cloud-seeding missions somewhere in SE Asia during a drought, and were successful in starting a few showers. Word got back that the hill tribes attributed the rain to their religious rituals, so the pilots started putting green dye in with their seed loads and spread the rumor that if the rain was green, you'd have Uncle Sam to thank.

The book wasn't very good, it was just full of crap stories like that.

[Satan]

On a related note:

We all know tht hurricanes are very destructive forces. Thanks to recent weather patterns, we are experiencing more of them, and they are more fierce than ever before.

We also know that a hurricane starts as a tropical depression and goes from there, sucking up moisture, developing into that circular pattern, and gradually strengthens.

Hurricane enemies: Cold air and land.

So, what's to stop us from, when a tropical depressio is spotted, deploying a slew of big ships into the area, which combined will approximate a land mass, as well as having planes drop dry ice in the air surrounding?

Seems to me that we would be able to at least slow the development of the storm, where it's fury would be lessened, and maybe kill a few before they are even born!

Thoughts...?

------------------
Yer pal,
Satan

First Place
Most Popular Poster of the 20th Century Competition
As overseen by Coldfire

[bda]

thanks satan . . i think the ship deployment thing would be to slow . . but maybe work in theory . . the dry ice might help . . but i think you still need an opposing force . . a network of fans based in the west indies for a hurricane . . to just mess with that tropical dep enough to screw with its circular rotation . . thats more ambitious than im thinking at this point . . lets start with just common weather fronts . . if its possible to mess with them enough to have 2 inches of rain spred over 5 states . . rather than 6 inches of rain spred over 2 states . . have we accomplished something? especially when the the 2 states in this model have had 8 inches of rain in the last 2 days? this all connects to patterns. the data is there . . us weather service . . insurance comp payouts. . disaster relief . . billions of dollars every year . . im not a meterologist(sp?) or an engineer . . but i know this would have a positive effect.

[bda]

i understand there are many political/legal issues to consider; right now im mostly interested if anyone out there has ever worked on this or is interested. anyone know of a similiar proposal, computer model, anything?

[funneefarmer]

A link to the facts on the largest of the artificial tornados.
http://www.reelefx.com/Tornado/Factsheet.htm

[bda]

cool! . . thanks