Sep 05
17
Star Wars science answers hurricane problems
A Scientific American article suggests that Star Wars has the answer to devastating hurricanes. Targeted satellites could change major hurricane courses enough to save lives says noted weather scientist Ross Hoffman.
Hoffman was backed by funds from the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), says the technology, which may be in use by the middle of this century, could have rerouted Katrina away from populated areas. “Weather modification on this scale is decades into the future,” Hoffman said. “[But] a shift of only 50 kilometers would have made a huge difference to New Orleans.”
Other researchers have proposed creating giant slicks on the ocean in a bid to control cyclones.
Hurricanes start life as groups of thunderstorms over tropical oceans. Thermal processes cause the storms to organize and strengthen, eventually forming a powerful, swirling mass of water, heat and air.
Using a $US500,000 ($653,000) NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts grant Hoffman conducted computer simulations of a series of past hurricanes and looked at how subtle changes could have altered the storms.
Hoffman says atmosphere heat changes of just two or three degrees in key areas would have dramatically changed their course. He believes better predicting of hurricane formation along with satellite technology could reduce their severity and impact.
One solution would be an array of mirror-laden satellites used to focus sunlight on solar cells. The collected energy could then be beamed down towards Earth as microwaves and used to heat the atmosphere around the hurricane.
Microwave frequencies tuned to be absorbed by water would be used. But in the immediate future, Hoffman said last week, more conventional strategies for dealing with hurricanes were needed.
“The first thing is to have better forecasts, so that evacuations can be more efficient,” he said.”then evacuation plans that work. And third building codes and insurance plans that do not promote people living where flooding is likely.”
He said successful hurricane control techniques in the future would require “better prediction models, much better observations of the hurricane before landfall, and the ability to make fairly large scale but relatively small amplitude changes to the atmosphere”.
A separate research project in the US is examining weakening cyclones by dispersing a super-absorbent powder on the ocean to turn a hurricane's moisture into solidified gel.