Hurricanes and solar power sats

Okay, it's fairly off-the-wall... but who knows?:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?art...7F83414B7F0000
Basically, you use the microwaves from the solar power satellite to heat
the air and change its track.
From page 5:

"Who Can Stop the Rain?
If it is true, as our results suggest, that small changes in the
temperature in and around a hurricane can shift its path in a
predictable direction or slow its winds, the question becomes, How can
such perturbations be achieved? No one, of course, can alter the
temperature throughout something as large as a hurricane
instantaneously. It might be possible, however, to heat the air around a
hurricane and thus adjust the temperature over time.

Our team plans to conduct experiments in which we will calculate the
precise pattern and strength of atmospheric heating needed to moderate
hurricane intensity or alter its track. Undoubtedly, the energy required
to do so would be huge, but an array of earth-orbiting solar power
stations could eventually be used to supply sufficient energy. These
power-generating satellites might use giant mirrors to focus sunlight on
solar cells and then beam the collected energy down to microwave
receivers on the ground. Current designs for space solar power stations
would radiate microwaves at frequencies that pass through the atmosphere
without heating it, so as to not waste energy. For weather control,
however, tuning the microwave downlink to frequencies better absorbed by
water vapor could heat different levels in the atmosphere as desired.
Because raindrops strongly absorb microwaves, parts of the hurricane
inside and beneath rain clouds would be shielded and so could not be
heated in this way.

In our previous experiments, 4DVAR determined large temperature changes
just where microwave heating could not work, so we ran an experiment in
which we forced the temperature in the center of the hurricane to remain
constant during our calculation of the optimal perturbations. The final
results resembled those of the original, but to compensate for making no
initial temperature changes in the storm center the remaining
temperature changes had to be larger. Notably, temperature changes
developed rapidly near the storm center during the simulation."
So instead of hitting Florida and then turning north to hit New Orleans,
Katrina goes somewhere else...say it goes to Cuba, then hangs a left and
heads for Venezuela.
.....in fact, say _all_ future Atlantic tropical storms go to Cuba, and
then hang a left and go to Venezuela....until those commie miscreants
learn who their true friends are, and embrace the wonders of capitalism!
By God, now that's the ticket! ;-)

Pat

In sci.space.policy Pat Flannery wrote:
Okay, it's fairly off-the-wall... but who knows?:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?art...7F83414B7F0000
Basically, you use the microwaves from the solar power satellite to heat
the air and change its track.
From page 5:

Sure.
Given functional multiple gigawatt SPS.
Differential heating of water across the track also sounds possibly
interesting.
Course, the obvious flipside is to generate storms.

energy required to do so would be huge, but an array of earth-orbiting solar power
stations

Too bad we don't have any way of generating large amounts of fusion
power quickly.

bombardmentforce wrote:
energy required to do so would be huge, but an array of earth-orbiting solar power
stations


Too bad we don't have any way of generating large amounts of fusion
power quickly.



Perhaps nuking New Orleans with a hydrogen bomb would've deflected Katrina.

--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

bombardmentforce wrote:
energy required to do so would be huge, but an array of earth-orbiting solar power
stations


Too bad we don't have any way of generating large amounts of fusion
power quickly.

"Large amounts" and "quickly" are the ONLY way we have of generating fusion
power effectively. The amounts are measured in megatons of TNT and quickly
is measured in milliseconds.

- Bill Frensley

Hop David wrote:

Too bad we don't have any way of generating large amounts of fusion
power quickly.

Perhaps nuking New Orleans with a hydrogen bomb would've deflected Katrina.

The increased pressure would be too short-lived to have an appreciable
effect on even a "small" hurricane.

Alan Anderson wrote:

The increased pressure would be too short-lived to have an appreciable
effect on even a "small" hurricane.

If anything, the increased updraft would *strengthen* the hurricane.

Paul

"Paul F. Dietz" wrote:

The increased pressure would be too short-lived to have an appreciable
effect on even a "small" hurricane.

If anything, the increased updraft would *strengthen* the hurricane.

I think you're talking about the amusingly common suggestion of nuking
the eye to try to dissipate the hurricane. What happens in the models
of that situations is merely that you end up with a mildly radioactive
hurricane. The extra updraft is sometimes considered, but the burst of
heat is apparently too brief to have lasting results.

However, that's not what Hop David asked about. The scenario under
immediate consideration was vaporizing a large city in the path of the
hurricane in an attempt to deflect it.

Hop David wrote:



Perhaps nuking New Orleans with a hydrogen bomb would've deflected
Katrina.


They once examined nuking hurricanes to disrupt their circulation pattern.
Here, Hugo Gernsback talks up the idea of going after them with
Napalm-Magnesium bombs:
http://www.twd.net/ird/forecast/1955hurricane.html
Remember...WE MUST ACT SOON, AT THE STORM'S BIRTH!
If we had taken Gernsback's advice and dropped NAPALM-MAGNESIUM BOMBS on
all of Western Africa, it would KILL ALL THE BUTTERFLIES THAT LIVE THERE!
With no butterflies living in Western Africa, there would be NO FLAPPING
BUTTERFLY WINGS IN WESTERN AFRICA... and since butterflies flapping
their wings in WESTERN AFRICA is what CAUSES HURRICANES, we would have
NO MORE HURRICANES!

There is also a sure-fire way to prevent terrorists from flying aircraft
into skyscrapers.
WE MUST BUILD THE SKYSCRAPERS UNDERGROUND! They can have HUNDREDS OF
FLOORS, but GOING DOWNWARDS, not UPWARDS!
All that will be visible on the EARTH'S SURFACE will be a large cap of
ARMOR PLATE with a NUCLEAR SKY-SWEEPER ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN ON IT!
A Nuclear Skysweeper firing PLUTONIUM-RADIUM-URANIUM-NAPALM-MAGNESIUM
SHELLS!

Mosquitos are a problem...but if we were to DETONATE
DDT-NAPALM-MAGNESIUM HAND GRENADES in ALL STANDING RAIN PUDDLES after
every storm, they would be QUICKLY ELIMINATED.
IT IS THEN WE MUST ATTACK! :-)

Pat

Alan Anderson wrote:


The increased pressure would be too short-lived to have an appreciable
effect on even a "small" hurricane.



I'm trying to remember how this was supposed to work. IIRC, you dropped
the H-bomb into the hurricane at a good distance from the eye, and
created a second cyclic turbulence with the heat generated by the
thermonuclear blast. The two competing vortices were supposed to cancel
each other out, and make the storm fall apart.

Pat