Storm Experts Make Cloud Vanish

ianchaos writes: "According to an article in New Scientist, storm experts in the U.S. have made a cloud vanish from the sky for the first time. They achieved the feat by sprinkling a water-absorbing powder over the cloud, making it disappear from sight and weather station radar screens. They hope the powder will one day dry up deadly hurricanes and tropical storms."

Comments

What? Take out hurricanes?

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me, but I thought hurricanes were created when warm air currents collide with cold air currents? How does powder stop this? Or, maybe the "powder" isn't really used to make clouds "vanish", but more for recreational uses by the scientists?

Re:What? Take out hurricanes?

[Suidae]

Sure seems like it would take a hell of a lot of powder to soak up enough of the water in those clouds to have much of an impact. To be cost effective the powder would have to be incredibly cheap, and then you still need planes to dump the stuff over the clouds.

Maybe it could work, but I'm very skeptical that it would have much of an impact unless it was applied very early in the formation of a storm system, and as another poster noted, very much of that would probably have some environmental consequences.

Been tried

[Shotgun]

Years ago, scientist were attempting to dampen the power of hurricanes by dropping dry-ice from the back of planes. Again, the idea was to make it rain and thereby take some of the oomph out of the storm.

They were stopped because of protest from other countries who did not appreciate the US fiddling with the global climate.

Not likely to be much different this time around.

Won't Somebody PLEASE Think of the Children!

[Zaphod B]

First of all, let's just make clear that the scalability of this project will be a problem. Just because you make one little cloud disappear does not mean you get to take away hurricanes.

Next let's discuss the climate issues. Water is recycled on this planet. Any fourth grader can tell you about the rain cycle. Start mucking about with chemicals trying to absorb water and you will eventually muck about with the world's water. A better solution would be for people not to live in places very prone to hurricanes, or for people to adapt dwellings, etc. to withstand them.

Third, let's talk about the physical uselessness of this project. Hurricanes are extreme low-pressure areas. Anyone who's taken high school physics can tell you that the natural movement of anything (atoms, etc.) is from an area of high-pressure to an area of low-pressure (this is why champagne corks pop and why they tell you not to puncture aerosol cans). You may be able to withdraw the moisture from the atmosphere (see the second point above), but that will not necessarily remove the area of low-pressure. Water (in the form of clouds) will continue to gravitate toward the low-pressure, thus patching up all the "holes" that this ridiculous powder would be creating.

Fourth, the price of sporting events is high enough already without having to pay for cloud dispersal services.

Fifth, we already have something that absorbs water and moisture. It's called silica gel, it's horrendously poisonous, and it comes in packets in every box of electronics shipped on this planet.

Zaphod B

Re:Won't Somebody PLEASE Think of the Children!

[Suidae]

Silica gel can harden with moisture, possibly causing GI blockage. Please refer to the MSDS:

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/s1634.htm

Re:Won't Somebody PLEASE Think of the Children!

[NonSequor]

My guess is that it would cause digestive trouble or some such thing.

Au pays de L'Emperereur Tomato-Ketchup
Les Enfants sont les rois et ils font la loi!

Re:Won't Somebody PLEASE Think of the Children!

[return 42]

The why do the packets say DO NOT EAT?

Well, I wouldn't want to swallow something that would dry the hell out of my GI tract. Painful.

Also, why is silica gel even packed with electronics? Most electronic devices can be completely submerged in water, and as long as you give them time to completely dry out, they will work fine, so what does it matter if a little moisture gets on the outside of a device from condensation?

Probably to guard against the people who won't wait till it dries out, but just plug it in immediately.

Re:Won't Somebody PLEASE Think of the Children!

[return 42]

It's called silica gel, it's horrendously poisonous...

What have you been smoking? Silica gel isn't even slightly poisonous. Breathing a lot of it can cause lung problems, but that's true of any dessicant, for obvious reasons.

Angry Fundamentalists

[Ethermeme]

So, what happens when all those in othodox religions realize that we've just neutered God? It's one more "Act of God" that won't happen any more, and one more step up the Tower of Babylon.

I bet they'll lobby DC to get it outlawed.

"Preserve God's Right to Destroy!"

:-D

Hurricane's as a weapon

[dbug78]

personally I think we should be trying to integrate some sort of large, flaming projectiles into hurricanes. with a little luck, maybe we can take out disney... or some of those old people that make driving here in upstate NY so dangerous during the summer.

Re:Hurricanes have uses, too.

[Suidae]

I'd have to agree.

Same goes for forest fires. The forests were fine for millions of years without us running around putting out fires. Now we just let fuel build up until we get these super-fires we've been seeing in the last few years.

I'd rather they quit spending money on fire-jumpers and just make those people who build their house in the woods pay for fire insurance.

Re:Aerosol cans

[Suidae]

If you can't find an air rifle, freeze a few cans until the contents are all solid, then run them through a bandsaw and make nice little pancakes of frozen shaving cream. Peel off the metal rings and put the cream disks in a bag with a block of dry ice. Stroll through the parking lot on a hot day and slip them into the windows of all the cars with their windows rolled down a bit. Or drop 10-15 cans worth into one car.

No, I haven't done this, but I have some friends who have.

Aerosol cans

[squeegee-me]

Hey, puncturing aerosol cans can be fun if you do it safely. I had a can of Gellett Shaving Gel that was empty from the average users' view point, but take it into the back yard, shoot it with a air rifle, and watch the thing spin and squirt out the remains!!! Just think of what you could do to someone's car if they deserved a practical joke, you had a full canister, and had an open sunroof.

Ewww, I'd rather get wet

[kryzx]

While I'm at that sporting event I'd rather be rained on than suddenly splattered by a deluge of little pieces of gel.

They say it disolves in salt water, but there's not likely to be much salt water at your average stadium, so the stuff might be around for a while. And what would a "gelstorm" do to the traction on a football field or racetrack?

The primary use, over the ocean, sounds interesting, but frankly I think the mention of killing clouds over sporting events is just a little sensationalism to raise hype.

Hurricanes have uses, too.

[martyb]

First off, let me say that my heart goes out to those who have suffered damage or the loss of the life of a loved one because of a hurricane.

As an example: Years ago when hurricane Gloria came through my area, I was without power for 4 days and had friends who had no power for a week. Many roads were closed because of fallen trees. It was a real mess.

But, I noticed something else. For the next few years, the usual storm-related power outages ceased. The big storm cleaned out all the deadwood hanging over power lines. Only the really strong and healthy trees and branches remained.

I like to take walks in the woods. I noticed that the fallen tress and branches became natural habitats for wildlife. There were also great openings in the canopy where trees had once been -- this brought more light down to ground level and caused an outburst of low-level shrubs and the like. It seemed like Darwin's Theory of Evolution at work on a grand scale - a wholesale wiping out of the weakest leaving only the strong to survive.

The point I'm trying to make from these few examples is that I caught a glimpse of what I believe to be long-term cycles at work. I suspect these huge storms are as important to our ecosystem as regular storms are.

Re:Won't Somebody Please Mod THIS Down!

[BigTimOBrien]

I agree, and I believe that it is time to make: "Don't F**K with rain" a new motto.

What is next: "Scientists stop wind with new anti-wind device." STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP.

you can take your #$(*@! ICE-9 and shove it.

Re:Won't Somebody Please Mod THIS Down!

[alist]

This is exactly the kind of "lets mess around with anything we want, damn the consequences" kind of attitude that could land us in real trouble some day. Scientists don't even know the mechanics of a hurricane in any great detail. Shouldn't we understand something as powerful as this before we go screwing around with it?

the water cycle is not harmed in any way (as if it could be)

It sure could be. If every time a tropical storm develops, we crush it in its infancy, a huge amount of water will fall - on the ocean. This water will not travel to wherever it's going, and the weather patterns of wherever these storms are will change. Look what happened to the Sahara - it's not too hard for local climates to change drastically in response to weather change. If Cuba doesn't get as much moisture falling out of the sky because it was all dumped in the middle of the ocean, their sugar cane will die and -bad things- will happen.

It's not worth considering such a drastic use for this technology until we know more about the weather.

Heh.

[Scoria]

2001-07-20 19:01:18 Company says experimental powder may weaken hurricanes (articles,news) (rejected)

We've been trying to find a way of manipulating the weather for a long, long time...

Interesting stuff we've thought about trying. (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/askjack/wfaqhurm. htm for the goatse.cx paranoid)

Won't Somebody PLEASE Mod This Down!

[Rick the Red]

Enough with the hysteria! The chemical they use absorbs moisture from the cloud, becomes very heavy, and drops from the sky. It rains down into the ocean where the salt water breaks it down. So the water cycle is not harmed in any way (as if it could be) -- the water ends up in the ocean, as before.

As for hurricanes, their theory has yet to be proven, but the idea is to drop this stuff in a straight line from the eye out to the edge, thus disrupting the hurricane enough to turn it back into a tropical storm -- maybe even a tropical depression. Yes, the low pressure area will remain, but the theory is that the high winds will not (the high winds are not caused by high pressure air rushing radially into the low pressure storm).

And finally, this is not silica gel. Just because "we already have something that absorbs water and moisture" doesn't mean anything else that absorbs water is worthless. Do you wipe up coffee spills with silica gel? No. Do you pack electronics in paper towels? No. Do you read the damn articles before you post? Apparantly Not.