Bringing Down A Hurricane

A group of Israeli scientists may hold the key to reducing a hurricane’s destructive potential. The team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believe distributing smoke particles within a tropical storm will reduce wind speed, and so too the storms destructive power.

Hurricanes draw their energy from the warm evaporative conditions found over tropical oceans.  Water evaporating off the warm ocean condenses and forms rain, releasing further heat energy as it falls.

When injected within the lower altitudes of the hurricane, smoke particles force water to prematurely condense, the droplets from forming rain.  The small droplets are then swept into the outer winds of the storm, freezing and undermining the power within the center of the hurricane.

Although still untested, the researchers’ patent application shows even a slight reduction in wind speeds will greatly reduce a hurricanes destructive power.  The team believe smoke particles could be effectively delivered using ten cargo aircrafts, stating:

The seeding agent can be carried in liquid form by air to air refueling tankers that burn the seeding agent into smoke that constitutes the CCN. The combustion of the seeding agent can be done in the aircraft jet engines or in their exhaust. In this case, components from the aircraft fuel and/or oxygen from the ambient air may be utilized so that the mass of the released aerosols exceeds the mass of the seeding agent.

New Scientist: Hurricane Mitigation BY Combined Seeding With Condensation and Freezing Nuclei