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Could 'Re-Engineering' Earth Help Ease the Hurricane Threat? (nbcnews.com)

As hurricanes continue to increase in frequency and intensity, a $10-billion-a-year project proposes injecting sulfate into the atmosphere to cool down the Earth and reduce the number of hurricanes by 50% for a staggering 50 years. From a report: In an attempt to combat climate change, a multinational team of scientists are working on a plan to literally re-engineer the Earth in order to cool it down and reduce the impact of storm systems. For example, a team led by John Moore, who is the head of China's geoengineering research program, is studying how shading sulfate aerosols that are dispersed into the stratosphere could help cool the planet and reduce the number of hurricane occurrences. In an interview with Popular Mechanics, outlining how the plan works, Moore asserts, "We're basically mimicking a volcano and saying we're going to put 5 billion tons of sulfates a year into the atmosphere 20 kilometers high, and we'll do that for 50 years." In their current research model, in which the scientists tested a senario where the sulfate injection is doubled over time, the team found that incidences of Katrina-level hurricanes could be maintained (they would be kept at the same rate that we currently see) and that storm surges, which is the rise in seawater level that is caused solely by a storm, could be mitigated by half. The researchers noted that the volcanic eruption in 1912 of Katmai in Alaska "loaded the Northern Hemisphere with aerosol [sulfates], and [was] followed by the least active hurricane season on record." Moore explains that warmer waters can spark and fuel hurricanes, and cooling them with shading sulfates reduces the size and intensity of these hurricanes.

262 comments

  1. Not this again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I ain't going to be riding no train around the world forever in the snow. Fuck that!

    1. Re:Not this again! by dstyle5 · · Score: 2

      As long as you are near the front of the train things aren't so bad. ;)

      For those who don't know the reference, its from Snowpiercer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    2. Re:Not this again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We can always rebel and produce so much heat with the effort that the world just melts away into the state of solidarity and sunshine.

    3. Re:Not this again! by fatboy · · Score: 1

      But babies taste best!

      --
      --fatboy
  2. LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What could possibly go wrong?!

    1. Re:LMFAO by toejam13 · · Score: 1

      What could possibly go wrong?!

      Connor MacLeod could fail to achieve a Quickening, which would allow the head of China National Shield Corporation to continue with their nefarious plans for another five decades after the Earth has cooled.

    2. Re:LMFAO by Z00L00K · · Score: 4, Informative

      Don't build so darn near the shoreline. And don't build on former riverbeds or other lowland that's a candidate for flooding. Also keep some areas of forest and ponds to slow and absorb runoff water.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    3. Re:LMFAO by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a shame nobody asked that when people started burning fossil fuels.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    4. Re:LMFAO by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Don't build so darn near the shoreline. And don't build on former riverbeds or other lowland that's a candidate for flooding. Also keep some areas of forest and ponds to slow and absorb runoff water.

      "If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization"

      All I can say is the combination of that comment & that sig really made my day

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    5. Re:LMFAO by chipschap · · Score: 1

      Will Trump be the Engineer?

    6. Re:LMFAO by SMACX+guy · · Score: 1

      What could possibly go wrong?!

      Seriously: It'll start wars.

      I do this all the time. Almost every time I play, I'm the one who first suggests we launch solar shades, because I love my coastal cities, especially my headquarters. (It's invariably at about sea level so that I can crawl energy resources from out at sea, and there are all sorts of economic secret projects that perform better the more energy is coming into the base. My HQ is always very rich and valuable.)

      Anyway, all the terraforming eventually causes planet's caps to melt, and I'm usually the one who is first to try to stop it with shades. But unless I'm planetary governor, some assholes (usually Miriam or Santiago) always vote against me. If I can't get the votes, then I can't have it and that's very a serious problem because my HQ is so valuable. If I'm Morgan I might try to bribe them, but usually it requires military action. And my HQ is worth it.

      Anyway, if you can't launch shades, then you can't. But if you have the tech and someone votes against it, that's going to cause major conflict.

    7. Re:LMFAO by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Come on, now you're making up films that don't exist.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    8. Re:LMFAO by godel_56 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't build so darn near the shoreline. And don't build on former riverbeds or other lowland that's a candidate for flooding. Also keep some areas of forest and ponds to slow and absorb runoff water.

      And don't continue to breed like fucking rabbits.

    9. Re:LMFAO by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 1

      It's the only way to be sure. (Completely re-applying the quote from __Aliens__.)

    10. Re:LMFAO by LunaticTippy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And don't continue to breed like fucking rabbits.

      Huh. Are rabbits known for stable, gradually declining populations? Cuz that's what all developed countries do. There is a demographic implosion underway in many countries, Japan is leading the way with an economy that has been in a deflationary spiral for over a decade. Even Mexico is just over replacement rate with fertility rate at 2.21 (down from 7 a generation ago)

      Most developed countries have declining populations projected for the indefinite future. The US is way below replacement rate, only growth is from immigration. Your facts are dated and out of touch with reality.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    11. Re: LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My intuition is that people in developed countries have so few children because of economic pressures- they simply can't afford to have more children. remove that pressure and watch birth rates explode.

    12. Re:LMFAO by plopez · · Score: 2

      Sulphuric acid perhaps?

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    13. Re: LMFAO by Wdomburg · · Score: 1

      That would certainly explain the inverse relationship between wealth and fertility...

    14. Re: LMFAO by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      It's more an issue that in less developed countries there is a combination of factors that lead one to have more children:

      1. Lack of wide availability of birth control.
      2. In more agriculturally based societies, more children are more mouths to feed, but they're also more hands to help out.
      3. Sadly, in less developed nations, there's a higher instance of infant mortality. People have a lot of kids because there's no guarantee that all of them will survive to adulthood, so you hedge your bets by having more.

      In our environment where kids don't meaningfully help out the household's ability to flourish and even if you have 1 or 2 they'll most likely survive just fine, people just don't feel the need. You have one, maybe 2, for the experience of being a parent, and you're good. Besides, it seems like smaller families are better anyways. In the pre-birth control days when you'd see families of 14 and 15 children it's hard to imagine being able to pay enough attention to each of them. That multiplies when it comes to grandparents. My parents have a total of 3 grandchildren - they dote on them and spoil them to no end. If they had 75-100 I doubt they'd even know all of their names.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    15. Re: LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GAW believers will say "no, it's not possible" because the ability to fix the climate through engineering robs them of their basis to demand particular social changes.
      GAW deniers will also say "no" because they would have to admit that we are capable of affecting the climate.

      The three or four of us not in either religious camp will say "we probably don't have the tech to do it yet, and will probably fuck it up worse trying."

      So, no.

    16. Re:LMFAO by fisted · · Score: 1

      ok

    17. Re: LMFAO by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Rich women are too spoiled to pop out double digits these days. Lucky to get eight.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    18. Re:LMFAO by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      True, but logic doesn't help with dog-whistles.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    19. Re:LMFAO by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      "What could go wrong" is what you ask when you face a decision of doing something or not doing something. This is a decision between "Doing something" or "Continue to do something else."

      We're already pushing buttons wildly with dumping carbon, methane, and everything else into the atmosphere. "What could possibly go wrong" with that is quite scary and balances out anything on the other side. Unless you've convinced yourself it's lies and your friends in the coal industry wouldn't let that happen.

    20. Re: LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hardly. 200 years ago you needed to have half a dozen children as half might very well die before maturity. With a lack of social security you'd need some to provide for you in old age. I don't think women entirely enjoyed giving birth so often, especially given the number that died doing it.

    21. Re: LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure Canada will be perfectly happy to lose its forests to acid rain to benefit New Orleans. It's not like it uses the wood for anything and a few Mardi Gras beads will be sufficient compensation (again).

    22. Re: LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GAW evidence believers are often aware that we had an issue with sulphate pollution in the 70s and 80s, and rather than fixing a big problem by causing a smaller but still significant one might be problematic, and that $10 billion a year on preventing both might be a better way to spend the money.

      Sulphate aerosol effect modelling on a regional level still isn't a solved problem. Luckily the level of such isn't as great as it used to be, so the lack of detail hasn't been an issue, but it could be if it was being deliberately introduced. It's not as difficult to model the global average, but regional modeling would be required for a global agreement, and without it, it would potentially be breach of international law if the regional effects were known and a nation proceeded with deliberate introduction of sulphates. Regional level modelling is improving, but needs improvements in modelling and massive amounts of computational power.

      In terms of news for nerds there's lots of need for skilled software engineers in terms of improving large computational models, and some are open source, such as CESM. Aside the parallelism, the McCabe complexity can be high, and there's a possibility for people to contribute.

      I have no affiliation with any climate science organisations.

    23. Re:LMFAO by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The same can be said about pretty much everything. What we really needed was supercomputers and climate models of the entire planet backed by near perfect satellite data to determine if we should start burning coal 3000 years ago.

    24. Re:LMFAO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bubsy bubsy bubsy bubsy bobcaaat

    25. Re:LMFAO by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      Putting Sulfur into the air will generate Sulfuric Acid and that will devastate farmland (crop failure) and forests (kill wildlife) and acidify lakes (kill fish).

    26. Re:LMFAO by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      First World countries have negative population growth. It turns out if you have a nice life you don't spend all your time breeding like rabbits. If we raise the standard of living in the Third World countries, the population bomb will defuse.

    27. Re:LMFAO by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      If we raise the standard of living in the Third World countries, the population bomb will defuse.

      To be replaced by a resources bomb, as those billions of people with increased living standards desire stuff, made with either plants (grown somewhere) or dug out of the ground (which begs the question of where they're going to get 250 billion tonnes of sulphates).

      NB - even having 100% recycling won't deal with the fact that billions of tonnes of additional stuff will be needed.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    28. Re:LMFAO by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Almost certainly - because anything else would require either milling minerals (gypsum, anhydrite ; all other sulphate minerals are minor in terms of tonnage) to nano particles and then hoping they'll stay up).

      Global production of sulphuric acid is around 250 million tonnes per year at the moment, so they're incidentally invoking an increase of about 21 times over current production. I wonder where they're going to get the sulphur from.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    29. Re:LMFAO by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 2

      Most developed countries have declining populations projected for the indefinite future.

      True, but 90+% of the people in the world live in undeveloped countries, and that is highly unlikely to change.

    30. Re: LMFAO by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      That's how films get made! I'm working on the next Tron.

    31. Re: LMFAO by Ocker3 · · Score: 1

      There's a relatively simple solution to overpopulation: Make sure all of the girls get a good education. It is very powerful at driving down birth rates, and improving things generally.

    32. Re:LMFAO by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      You're just wrong. Look at China and India's fertility rate. You're out of date.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    33. Re: LMFAO by Wdomburg · · Score: 1

      Lucky to get two. There isn't a country in the world that has a total fertility rate as high as eight.

  3. The law of unintended consequences by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1
    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    1. Re:The law of unintended consequences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Your on the right page.

      Biology 101 class, our Ecosystem traps about 15% of solar engery into usable bioengery. If we block it, than thats less for that 15% to trap and use for life. Therefore less possible food.

    2. Re:The law of unintended consequences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That 15% isn't fixed. There are countless ways to increase that percentage. Solar energy running lights for an indoor garden during the winter, for example.

    3. Re:The law of unintended consequences by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Solar energy running lights for an indoor garden during the winter, for example.

      Surely you could figure out something more stupid and inefficient than that.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    4. Re:The law of unintended consequences by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Biology 101 class, our Ecosystem traps about 15% of solar engery into usable bioengery.

      No way. Even under ideal conditions photosynthesis is only about 6% efficient. But conditions are almost never ideal, which sunlight falling on deserts or nutrient deprived oceans. Less that 1% of incident solar energy is captured as "bioenergy".

    5. Re: The law of unintended consequences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you had an indoor growing area with natural light and used stored energy to extend the lit period, the extension of the growing season might be worthwhile for crops already grown in greenhouses, although I can't see it having general applicability. I've got tomato crops as late as early November in the UK, but it might allow an early crop, but whether I'm that desperate for domestically grown tomatoes in March is another matter. I could always eat turnips instead, and they substitute for tomatoes in most situations.

    6. Re: The law of unintended consequences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are also several different photosynthetic pathways. E.g. some, assuming no Liebig minimum affecting another resource, are not stimulated by increased CO2, but some are. Plants we consider to be weeds seem to thrive on more CO2, staple crops such as wheat, less so, and current high yield varieties are relatively sensitive to temperature and heat.

  4. Organic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As long as they only use Non-GMO material I'm good with this.

    1. Re:Organic by plopez · · Score: 1

      I'm sure it will be gluten free too!

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  5. First sentence is absurd by Train0987 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "As hurricanes continue to increase in frequency and intensity"

    Except they are not increasing in frequency or intensity. Slashdot should be ashamed of what it's become, click-bait for cultists.

    1. Re:First sentence is absurd by mean+pun · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Except they are not increasing in frequency or intensity.

      The last few hurricanes have been and still are breaking records all over the place, so how can you reasonably argue that intensity is not increasing? Yes, they may be outliers, but then again, they may be indicating a trend. Confidently declaring that intensities are not increasing does not suggest an open mind on this.

      Slashdot should be ashamed of what it's become, click-bait for cultists.

      I must assume that you're one of these cultists then, because the article certainly has baited the denialists into clicking and commenting on the article.

    2. Re:First sentence is absurd by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually they do.
      There are not only Hurricanes that make landfall. There are Hurricanes in the atlantic you never hear about.
      And there are Cyclones, Taifuns etc. too.
      Get rid of the stupid idea that continental USA are the center of the world.

      It is just some 3% or 5% of the globe.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:First sentence is absurd by avandesande · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's bullshit. Hurricane season has been almost non-existent the last several years. You are just making shit up.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    4. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Indeed. I could probably find on YouTube plenty of news report videos, made shortly after Katrina, claiming that from that point forward, we should be expecting storms like that to occur *every* *year*.

      It finally took 12 years for something *somewhat* comparable to happen again.

      If this is what the data models were projecting back then, it scares the shit out of me whenever someone talks about geoengineering the climate, because it sounds to me like *that* has a lot more potential to make things a whole lot worse--considering decisions such as these are being made based on models that demonstrably haven't improved. Garbage in, garbage out.

    5. Re:First sentence is absurd by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The last few hurricanes have been and still are breaking records all over the place, so how can you reasonably argue that intensity is not increasing?

      Which last few are those? Harvey and Irma? How about Jose and K(whatever it's called?)? Or A(whatever) through G(whatever)? Were you bothering to include them?

      Or last year's storms? Anyone even remember any of them? Year before? Any year since Katrina? Any of the other storms that year?

      Selective memory is a thing, people. You remember the big, flashy things, and forget the overwhelming majority of pedestrian things...

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    6. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What about all the huricanes decimating florida in the previous century?
      We've just been lucky the last few decades.

    7. Re:First sentence is absurd by Whorhay · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From what I understand historical records for storms in the ways we measure them don't go back very far. It wasn't all that long ago that unless a storm made landfall nobody would know it existed at all. Well I suppose any ships caught in the storms would know, but they'd likely be more concerned with the immediate need to survive than measure wind speeds and atmospheric pressure. We can make guesses about how strong storms where when they made landfall based on the destruction they wrought but that is pretty iffy at best. A lot of the damage we see in our modern age from storms is a result of the flooding. And we have made the flooding a lot worse by eliminating wetland areas along with roofing and paving over everything in site. The prevalence of stick built houses filled with drywall and electrical wiring makes for larger losses when a structure is flooded.

      I'm not really sold one way or the other so far as whether storms are getting stronger and more frequent. But even anecdotally it doesn't seem so. It's been almost a decade since the gulf states saw serious hurricane danger.

    8. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually you're making shit up. Hurricane season in the U.S. has absolutely been relatively quiet. Not so much for the rest of the world.

    9. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Shhh, Mr Gore NEEDS his trillions to complete his global expansion plans where he will be the one to save the planet from ourselves and thus deserves the praise he so urgently requires.

    10. Re:First sentence is absurd by Solandri · · Score: 5, Informative

      Only the North Atlantic has seen a slight uptick in hurricanes the last 15 years. The eastern North Pacific has been pretty flat. Tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean have been down. As have cyclones in the South Pacific (off Australia). And cyclones in the western North Pacific have been mostly flat with a recent downward trend.

      So if you cherry-pick your data from just the one storm basin which fits your preconceived expectations and ignore all the others, yes hurricanes have been increasing in frequency and intensity.

    11. Re:First sentence is absurd by rholtzjr · · Score: 1

      Typhoons you mean? Most people do not speak German.

    12. Re:First sentence is absurd by hey! · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, tropical cyclones actually have become both more frequent (doi:10.1038/nature07234) and intense (doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00262.1) over the past 30 years, however the 3 meter/second increase in the wind speed over the past 30 years isn't proof we're looking at AGW.

      IPCC's models are somewhat mixed as to the frequency and intensity of future cyclones. They do predict more intense precipitation during cyclones.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    13. Re:First sentence is absurd by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      True, most people don't speak german.
      And Taifun is chineese, btw. :P

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    14. Re:First sentence is absurd by sexconker · · Score: 0, Troll

      It's been so boring and tame that they had to drum up SUPERSTORM SANDY in the media. Bonus points because it got their sacred cow, New York, wet.

      Of course, it wasn't a hurricane when it hit New York, it was only a cyclone. It was a hurricane when it hit (and killed) the brown people in Jamaica, but the media didn't care. The media desperately wanted another Katrina.

    15. Re:First sentence is absurd by avandesande · · Score: 1, Informative

      If you want to be pedantic they are called typhoons in the pacific

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    16. Re:First sentence is absurd by rholtzjr · · Score: 1

      Interesting, it is also German as well.

    17. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but like it or not, we are already geoengineering the climate by flooding it with so much CO2 all at once.

    18. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the rest of the world is irrelevant. its 'murika we're talking here. make 'murika great. (theres no again since its yet to be great)

    19. Re:First sentence is absurd by nnet · · Score: 1

      only if he slays manbearpig.

    20. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want to be pedantic they are called typhoons in the pacific

      Typhoons are generally in the North-West Pacific. In the South Pacific and Indian Oceans they are mostly called Cyclones.

    21. Re:First sentence is absurd by balbeir · · Score: 1
      Okay, fair enough.

      But what about a third parameter: size ?

      http://www.miaminewtimes.com/n...

      According to this both Irma and Andrew were both Cat 5 storms but Irma is way bigger

    22. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Moron. Typhoons are rich people who live in the Pacific Northwest like Bezos and Gates. Cyclones are one of the types of aliens Dr Who fought when there were no Daleks around.

    23. Re:First sentence is absurd by brennz · · Score: 2
    24. Re:First sentence is absurd by pots · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Atlantic hurricane power dissipation index has increased very substantially since the 70s. This value combines frequency, intensity, and duration.

      Since hurricanes result from a difference in temperatures, rather than from high sea temperatures alone, that image gives two potential predictions for the future. In the top (pessimistic) scenario, the north Atlantic and tropics warm unevenly and power dissipation goes up, in the bottom (optimistic) scenario warming is even and power dissipation remains mostly the same. Regardless of the future, it is undeniable that in recent decades hurricanes have gotten worse.

      You can read the full article here, if you like.

    25. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since global warming occurs disproportionately at the poles, reducing the temperature difference relative to the equator, we WANT more global warming - obviously.

      Or you could quote the paper you linked, which explicitly states that hurricanes have NOT gotten more powerful, and that there is no evidence that humans have changed the behavior of storms at all.

      I'm always amused that we're pushing 40 years of Greenies claiming that climate change will cause all sorts of "Extreme Weather" in the future - but none showing this increase in hurricanes, tornadoes, and the like in the past. Almost as if their projections have been wrong for almost two generations...

    26. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The more important point is that the timeframe of a few decades isn't enough to establish a trend. Maybe it is, maybe it's just a short term anomaly.
      That's what makes climate science hard... you can't point to a single event and say "here, this is caused by that."

    27. Re: First sentence is absurd by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      They're both (still decent/awesome at the time) GMC factory race trucks/SUVs from the early 90s. 14 seconds, bone stock. Bored out grand national motor, blown V6.

      Want to see a ford lightning guy frown, drive up in one.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    28. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Historically, Florida is a bad choice of a place to build permanent buildings. The whole place is sand bars and swamps. Unfortunately a lot of old people with all our boomer money have relocated down there.

    29. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take your anti-american virtue signaling rant and GO HOME.

    30. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, we're not geo engineering. Engineering is when you plan and do something with design and intent.

    31. Re:First sentence is absurd by pots · · Score: 1

      Or you could quote the paper you linked, which explicitly states that hurricanes have NOT gotten more powerful

      ... What?

      "Observed records of Atlantic hurricane activity show some correlation, on multi-year time-scales, between local tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the Power Dissipation Index (PDI) —see for example Fig. 3 on this EPA Climate Indicators site. PDI is an aggregate measure of Atlantic hurricane activity, combining frequency, intensity, and duration of hurricanes in a single index. Both Atlantic SSTs and PDI have risen sharply since the 1970s, and there is some evidence that PDI levels in recent years are higher than in the previous active Atlantic hurricane era in the 1950s and 60s."

    32. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The climate change argument would be more convincing if looking at the whole world didn't show a decrease in activity.

    33. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hurricane Matthew? Which they are still recovering from.... Sandy.... Let's see, there was Rita, Gustav.

      Also, Irma is twice the size of Andrew right now, so comparing a Cat 4 to a Cat 4 is like comparing a 2 door car to a 12 passenger SUV. Yeah, they're both technically "cars" but the comparison is still widely off.

    34. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go somewhere else if you want an echo chamber lined with mirrors.

    35. Re:First sentence is absurd by blindseer · · Score: 1

      It is just some 3% or 5% of the globe.

      By population you mean. The USA is about 20% of the global economy.

      http://www.aei.org/publication...

      MP: Overall, the US produced 22.5% of world GDP in 2014, with only about 4.6% of the worldâ(TM)s population. Three of Americaâ(TM)s states (California, Texas and New York) â" as separate countries â" would rank in the worldâ(TM)s top 14 largest economies. And one of those states â" California â" produced more than $2 trillion in economic output in 2014 â" and the other two (Texas and New York) produced more than $1.6 trillion and $1.4 trillion of GDP in 2014 respectively. The map and these statistics help remind us of the enormity of the economic powerhouse we live in. So letâ(TM)s not lose sight of how ridiculously large and powerful the US economy is, and how much wealth and prosperity is being created all the time in the worldâ(TM)s largest economic engine.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    36. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Replying AC since I've already moded.

      Scientifically speaking, the proper name is tropical cyclone. North America calls them hurricanes and most Pacific country's calls them typhoons, while most other places call them tropical cyclone. All one in the same really.

    37. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hurricanes don't result from differences in temperatures, SST needs to be at least 26.5C/80F for TC development to occur, among other factors. Large temperature changes kill a TC, that's one of the reasons why when it hits land it rapidly dies off. http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/t...

    38. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The climate changing is normal.

      It is normal for states/countries to be completely submerged under water, or emerge from the water as a new land.

      Florida and California may become 100% submerged under water with man responsible for 0% of it.

      Nothing new here.
      Totally normal and fully expected.

    39. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they aren't making landfall they dont matter. Certainly not worth changing the world's environment for it hitting the sea when we can tell ships to avoid the area.

    40. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Welcome to the climate change discussion! We're happy you're here, but we're going to ask you to lurk a bit before contributing. Just to catch you up:

      Yes, it's normal. No, the speed of the current change is not normal. No, the fact that it happens every few hundred thousand years does not make it less damaging that we're causing it now.

      Have a great time!

    41. Re:First sentence is absurd by mikael · · Score: 1

      There is an upper limit on how much sunlight the ocean surfaces can absorb. The maximum amount is sunlight on clear skies all Summer. But once water starts to evaporate, clouds form and reflect back sunlight.

      There is a measurement called Accumulated Cyclone Energy, which combines together the strengths of all hurricanes for that year:

      https://www.wunderground.com/h...

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    42. Re:First sentence is absurd by mikael · · Score: 1

      Before the 1960's, they didn't have weather satellites able to take a photograph of the oceans in a single shot. Instead, they had to depend on weather stations and reports from shipping and harbours. Usually if the seas got choppy with white peaks that was a good indication that bad weather was coming.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    43. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hurricane season for those that make landfall in the USA has been less. Overall energy in all hurricane systems, whether or not they make landfall in the USA, has been increasing. Since relatively few make landfall in the USA it is essentially a Poisson distribution, and some years the total energy of those that do make landfall in the USA can suddenly increase. If Irma makes landfall in Florida today then 2017 will be one if those years.

    44. Re:First sentence is absurd by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      By size of the area ... (*facepalm*)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    45. Re:First sentence is absurd by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I should have written Typhoon.
      However in german we usually use the original way of writing/pronunciation.
      That means most languages have the same vowels as we in german/finish/italian etc. have. So it is easy to simply rewrite Chinese or Japanese Kanji etc. in our way of reading/pronouncing vowels.
      The drawback is that most asian languages have either an "english way" of rewriting their characters with the latin alphabet or a "german way". Thai e.g. uses the english variant, wich makes it super difficult to learn, as very often as a german you can not judge how that "english written" Thai word is pronounced. Japanese uses luckily the German/Italian way of rewriting their language in latin letters.
      Chinese is unfortunately complicated with all those Q/Z/Ch/Ts sounds that sound so similar ... hence the "official" western writing changes every few years :D
      I guess I have seen dozens of variations how to write Mao Zedong ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    46. Re:First sentence is absurd by rholtzjr · · Score: 1

      Japanese I do not have that difficulty pronouncing. Chinese????? That is different story.

    47. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be a liberal, posting facts and stuff.

    48. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given the point in the orbital cycle we are at, we should expect the cooling trend of the last 8000 years to be continuing, rather than a rate of warming highly unusual in the geologic record. This does not suggest that current events are normal.

    49. Re: First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems to have ended. That's the issue with trying to determine a trend from a relatively rare event (big hurricanes), as opposed to common events (hurricanes in the Atlantic): it's statistical nonsense. Basically, the USA has been lucky that Cuba has mostly got in the way until this year. Now the drought (run of low incidence of a rare event) is over.

    50. Re:First sentence is absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You need something to suck on.

  6. I would say no by parkinglot777 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if what they said works, the idea is to reduce hurricane threat. They don't think further of what other impacts on other thing else on the Earth? This is just an advertising. Not a real implementation.

    1. Re:I would say no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      We should try it out in Earth.Dev and Earth.Test first.

    2. Re:I would say no by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Don't forget Earth.QA and Earth.Training.

      We need to take new screenshots and rebuild the user manual, and managers need the changes to be live on the training site, with scrambled data but also real data, before orientation at 9 AM on Monday. Also, we need someone to come in 20 minutes before hand to set up the projector. And can you stay throughout the meeting just in case a technical issue comes up?

    3. Re:I would say no by kiminator · · Score: 1

      Yup. The idea is a non-starter because it would require broad international agreement and massive funding. That's just not going to happen with such large uncertainties as to the potential downsides (and there will be downsides).

    4. Re:I would say no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Other effects lets see...

      Less extreme hot weather?

      Reversal of the melting of permafrost preventing the release of more CO2 and methane?

      Restoration of glaciers?

      List goes on, and on, and on some more.

      I grew up in a fairly temperate sub tropical part of the world, during winter, during the 80s frosts and just below freezing weather were common. Now its never seen. My wife grew up in the interior of Alaska, winters with weeks of -40 to -50F with the occasional warm up to -20F were the norm, now getting down to -40F for a few days here, and few days there is something note worthy.

  7. As what the what now???? by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As hurricanes continue to increase in frequency and intensity

    Say what? That we have seen an overall increase of cat4/cat5 hurricanes is very much open to debate. It's not great when you just start out by assuming that to be true.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:As what the what now???? by dslauson · · Score: 3, Insightful
      You:

      That we have seen an overall increase of cat4/cat5 hurricanes is very much open to debate

      Your link:

      ...it is unlikely that the large 80% increase in Category 4 and 5 hurricanes found by Webster et al. is real. There does appear to be some increase, but it is likely much smaller.

      It appears that even the author of your "dissenting" article agrees that the data shows an increase. The only debate is regarding the magnitude of the increase.

    2. Re:As what the what now???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > It's not great when you just start out by assuming that to be true

      Shut up, you're undermining the whole climate change premise.

  8. Have Hurricanes Increased in Frequency? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought they decreased in frequency (at least in the USA) since 2005. Have they increased in frequency worldwide? Anyone have the statistics?

    1. Re:Have Hurricanes Increased in Frequency? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't have the exact numbers, but the frequency of hurricanes devastating Texas and Florida is way up this year.

    2. Re:Have Hurricanes Increased in Frequency? by known_coward_69 · · Score: 2

      this year there is a lot of them so it's um, bad and we need to do something

    3. Re:Have Hurricanes Increased in Frequency? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this year there is a lot of them so it's um, bad and we need to do something

      We can wait till next year, which likely will not be as bad.

    4. Re:Have Hurricanes Increased in Frequency? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Like sales of disco music in the 70s.

  9. Shade balls by mikael · · Score: 2

    They just need to cover the surface of the Atlantic ocean with trillions of shade balls:

    http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech...

    That would prevent all that water evaporating into the atmosphere. Though I do wonder where the water evaporating from the reservoirs would have gone.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    1. Re:Shade balls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We're already trying to do that with our junk plastics, but still... hurricanes! Quick, we need to dump more trash in our oceans!

    2. Re:Shade balls by unrtst · · Score: 1

      Holy crap. From that link, "96 million black balls" ... "10-centimetre-diameter plastic balls" ... "The 36-cent balls"...
      You mean to tell me they couldn't get a better bulk deal than 100 for $36 on 96 million 10cm plastic balls ($34.56 million total)?!?! I really hope some of those figures are wrong.

    3. Re:Shade balls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For plastic that will not contaminate the water and is durable enough to leave in the sun $0.36 is not that bad a deal.

      Dollar-store plastic balls don't stop much light and degrade very quickly in the sun.

    4. Re:Shade balls by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Better yet, launch thin aluminum disks into space and put them in equatorial orbits. Hurricanes can't grow if the equator is the same temperature as the temperate zones.

    5. Re:Shade balls by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Better yet, launch thin aluminum disks into space and put them in equatorial orbits.

      L1, not equatorial orbit. Requires less station-keeping action and therefore longer lifetime. Also, fewer other satellites competing for orbital parameter real estate.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  10. work on problems you have control over... by js290 · · Score: 1

    Toby Hemenway - How Permaculture Can Save Humanity and the Earth, but Not Civilization https://youtu.be/8nLKHYHmPbo

    --
    "Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
  11. As hurricanes continue to increase in frequency by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Citation needed

    1. Re:As hurricanes continue to increase in frequency by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Citation needed

      In January there were no hurricanes. Now in September there are 2.
      \ Data Extrapolation / :-)

    2. Re:As hurricanes continue to increase in frequency by Lserevi · · Score: 1

      Citation needed

      http://www.realclimate.org/ind...

      The author is a leading expert on tropical cyclones. His article contains references to peer-reviewed papers.

  12. What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    After years of failed weather and climate prophesies, why not take the bold leap into doing something about it? We must appease the weather gods and throwing virgins into a volcano is so old fashioned.

    1. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ya the volcano demands whores.

    2. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That practice arose during our time of ignorance. It is now 2017 and through science we have divined what the sky gods really crave... offerings of sulfates aerosols. Praise Science!

    3. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Never under estimate the value of experience.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    4. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1

      Plus, the only reliable source for virgins is Slashdot users, so, it would be devastating to the community

  13. Only in Star Trek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which is, unfortunately, fictional. Did someone really propose this? If this is the best 'science' can do, we are better off with leeches and human sacrifice.

  14. Wait, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...you people want to try this experiment on the PRODUCTION PLANET? Are you insane? I LIVE HERE.

    DEV SOMEWHERE ELSE!

    1. Re:Wait, what? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      They did, its called "Mars". Earth is simply Mars 2.0 Duh!

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  15. Understand the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Until you understand the whole problem, don't fuck around with anything. The atmosphere is a complex and chaotic system, and we can't even predict the weather accurately for more than a few days (or even on the day). How about we don't start pumping more shit into the atmosphere until we have a fucking clue, huh?

    In fact, if you read the article you discover it has a lovely side-effect: the process completely destroys the ozone layer. Yay. It also means all those chemtrail nutcases are going to be very smug. Double yay.

    1. Re:Understand the problem by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Until you understand the whole problem, don't fuck around with anything. The atmosphere is a complex and chaotic system, and we can't even predict the weather accurately for more than a few days (or even on the day).

      Summer is hot. Winter is cold. Often we're better at this than whether it'll rain tomorrow, because the scenarios have feedback loops and they're divergent. Like if it starts raining it'll continue, if it doesn't start raining it'll stay overcast and the difference is within the error margin. Also known as the butterfly effect.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Understand the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great! So you're in favor of completely stopping all burning of fossil fuels until we understand the whole problem, right?

    3. Re: Understand the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We need to stop doing everything until we figure everything out. To do otherwise would be to blunder around in the dark.

    4. Re:Understand the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Until you understand the whole problem, don't fuck around with anything"

      Too late. We are already geoengineering. These hurricanes were man made. TFA is trying to get funding for more of it, and make public the shit we're already doing in secret.

  16. I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nothing at all.

  17. Interesting... by Thelasko · · Score: 2

    I just read an article by NOAA arguing the opposite of this.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    1. Re:Interesting... by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 1

      Eh...that's about nuking hurricanes. What's that have to do with spraying sulfates, or whatever?

    2. Re:Interesting... by Thelasko · · Score: 1

      Eh...that's about nuking hurricanes. What's that have to do with spraying sulfates, or whatever?

      It starts with a discussion on nuking hurricanes, and then it goes into a discussion on human interference in general. However, it never goes into specifically discussing spraying sulfates.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  18. Re:Welcome to the Post-Trump apocalypse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hello Hillary.

  19. Not sure by nospam007 · · Score: 0

    Personally I have no problem if a hurricane flattens Mar-a-Lago every other week.

    1. Re:Not sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm so glad you hate the President so much that you want millions to suffer twice a month.

      How much of a sick bastard do you have to be to think that way?

  20. Build a bigger wall... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    About 20 miles high encompassing the entire USA. Heck... just build a dome.

  21. Hurricanes are beyond are scale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The arrogance of this plan. The size and underling complexity of environment is undersold by people who are in the market to sell some untested snake oil to "fix" the Earth.
    " 5 billion tons of sulfates" Build man made volcano!? HA it's laughable. A hurricane scale problem the far edge of human reach. Even even fossil fuels are "only" 21.3 billion tons of CO2.

  22. Hurricanes serve nature by known_coward_69 · · Score: 1

    They destroy old trees and nature for new life to grow

    1. Re:Hurricanes serve nature by bobstreo · · Score: 1

      They destroy old trees and nature for new life to grow

      FTFY:

      They destroy old trailers and clean up trailer parks for new trailers to be installed

  23. Yeah, fuck it up completely. Why not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no hope for this species. If we have a choice between not driving fucking tanks to the mall and polluting the entire atmosphere, we choose the latter.

  24. Where does one start with how wrong this is? by es330td · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In their current research model ... the team found that incidences of Katrina-level hurricanes could be maintained

    In 2015 there were 28 named storms. In 1887 there were 20, along with 1933. Severe storms have ranged in name from Allen (first of the year in August), Audrey (in June, also first), Carla (early but not first) to Harvey-Ike-Katrina (middle of the season) to Rita-Sandy-Wilma (late to last, Wilma in October.) We haven't the slightest clue how many hurricanes we will have each year, nor when a bad one will happen. Despite this a scientist claims that a model predicts that seeding the atmosphere with a chemical can predict the number and level of future hurricanes. I fail to see how my third grader could be less accurate guessing any of this.

    1. Re:Where does one start with how wrong this is? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes you can't predict a value over a short period, but you can over a longer one. You probably have experimental equipment in your pocket to test this.

  25. Why not just work on weakening hurricanes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm surprised that we have not seen the creation of large "pressure" bombs to attempt to breach the wall of a hurricane and thus separate it from its storm (I am not saying that it would work, but I haven't really seen much done to consider how to mitigate it) or even the concept of man-made islands that form in the path of Atlantic-born hurricanes. At least initially, they all take a fairly common path, so putting something in their way could help to weaken them before they even start. This would be non-trivial at the very least, but it's certainly as doable as pumping 5 billion tons of sulfates into the atmosphere per year.

    Hurricanes gain strength from the ocean currents that they "ride" toward whatever place they inevitably hit.

    Personally, I don't think that it's a coincidence that these storms are getting stronger while the sun is ramping up its activity again and statistics seem to back that up (although when it gets to be the most active it implies there should be less activity, which hopefully means that Irma will be the last big storm for a few years assuming that Jose cannot get going).

    The level of solar activity beginning in the 1940s is exceptional – the last period of similar magnitude occurred around 9,000 years ago (during the warm Boreal period).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle#Cycle_history
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.2196/full

    1. Re:Why not just work on weakening hurricanes? by mikael · · Score: 1

      You want to either disrupt the wind currents, or reduce evaporation of water. Either way you have to cover the entire surface of the hurricane or ocean. You can take advantage of the rotating nature of the hurricane, but you would need something to fly across the hurricane.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  26. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    No cite, no credibility.

  27. Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's hope no major volcanos erupt in that 50 year timespan....

  28. 5 billion tons/year of sulfates? by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 2

    Won't that do something to air quality in general? And wouldn't sulfates lead to acid rain? How bad will the acid rain get? Is this going to mess with ocean chemistry even more?

    --PeterM

    1. Re: 5 billion tons/year of sulfates? by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Then we just dump some millions of tons of lye in the oceans to prevent the acidity.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re: 5 billion tons/year of sulfates? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 2

      The primary complainers about acid rain were fresh-water fishermen, who thought that acid rain was acidifying their favorite ponds and lakes, such as in upstate New York, and killing off the fish. There were confounding factors, however. Historically, many of those lakes were too acid for fish, due to runoff from pine forests. Farmers came in and cut down the forests, the lakes became neutral and were successfully stocked with fish. Years passed, farming became unprofitable in many areas, and the forests slowly grew back. People forgot that the lakes weren't naturally hospitable to fish. Eventually, the lakes became too acid for fish again, and people blamed acid rain. Well, maybe, maybe not.

      More telling is the effect on limestone buildings. Acid reacts with limestone and eats it away. The evidence for that is less ambiguous than fish.

      Anyhoo, want suphides in the air? Burn lots and lots of high sulphur coal. Fairly cheap source of energy, and lawsuits for pollution can be turned back by yelling "Stop global warming!" Cool the world and melt all those nice white limestone buildings.

      Maybe

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    3. Re: 5 billion tons/year of sulfates? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Then we just dump some billions of tons

      Didn't you read the article?

      You're wrong by a factor of a thousand.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    4. Re: 5 billion tons/year of sulfates? by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Woosh

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  29. US hurricane landfalls are trending down by acoustix · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E23.html

    Landfalling US hurricanes are trending down the last 140 years. All categories (1-4+) are trending down.

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    1. Re:US hurricane landfalls are trending down by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Yes but they are trending UP in the last 2 months. At this rate the entire world will be destroyed by Christmas.

  30. Re:Nope by Z00L00K · · Score: 2

    Frequency is about the same, the strength for older hurricanes is actually not always very accurate, especially when it comes to stronger ones as they aren't that frequent.

    An interesting presentation here though: https://public.tableau.com/pro...

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  31. Wait and see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It looks like maybe nuclear winter will fix the problem for us.

  32. Delta temperature leads to turbulance. by RyanFenton · · Score: 0

    Any dramatic heating or cooling is going to result in violence weather over time. That's why we even HAVE weather, thanks to sunrise/sunset/summer/winter, all shifting air across a complex landscape.

    Greenhouse/albedo effects can and classically DO have a multiplicative impact - but they wouldn't theoretically completely act like counter-thrust to change our trajectory, and also neither is a complete mirror of the other.

    Better than nothing if we keep having oil barons and fossil fuel proponents in charge, slashing all other alternatives and research pathways, I suppose.

    I'm typing this in Florida right now - about as prepared as I can get, in a nice inland flood-resistant area. Did you know that public scientists here are forbidden from mentioning 'climate change'? That's what modern conservatism is, I suppose - standing strong in opposition to thinking about working together on things the rest of the modern works largely considers minimal common sense logic.

    Ryan Fenton

  33. That is a bad idea. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    The problem with this solution is that it will have large scale unintended consequences and it doesn't even solve the ocean acidity problem. A far batter solution is to built a fuckload of atmospheric carbon dioxide scrubbing plants. We have the technology, we just lack the political representatives to act to make this happen. This "Re-Engineering Earth" idea is something that you try when you have completely run out of options and we aren't there yet.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:That is a bad idea. by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Why scrub the atmosphere when you can just stop burning coal?

    2. Re:That is a bad idea. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      Because that's no longer sufficient.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  34. Brilliant! by BenBoy · · Score: 1
    Like this?

    Goofus:
    I haven't gotten enough sleep lately; think I'll take provigil.
    I'm getting pretty sick from the provigil, think I'd better load up on antibiotics.
    I'm getting some fungus problems from the antibiotic use, think I'd better load up on the antifungals.

    Gallant:
    (takes a nap).

  35. A better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would make more sense to cool the surface temperature of the Atlantic and Caribbean by building floating atmospheric vortex engines to transfer the heat to the upper atmosphere.

  36. this is completely a lie by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/j...

    Source cited there.
    (from the article)
    The National Hurricane Center (NHC) provides information on major U.S. hurricanes during the past 100-plus years.According to the NHC, 70 major hurricanes struck the United States in the 100 years between 1911 and 2010. That is an average of 7 major hurricane strikes per decade. What are the trends within this 100-year span? Letâ(TM)s take a look.

    Letâ(TM)s split the 100-year hurricane record in half, starting with major hurricane strikes during the most recent 50 years.

    During the most recent decade, 2001-2010, 7 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is exactly the 100-year average.

    During the preceding decade, 1991-2000, 6 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is below the 100-year average.

    During the decade 1981-1990, 4 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is substantially below the 100-year average, and ties the least number of major hurricanes on record.

    During the decade 1971-1980, 4 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is substantially below the 100-year average, and ties 1981-1990 as the two decades with the least number of major hurricanes.

    During the decade 1961-1970, 7 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is exactly the 100-year average.

    Incredibly, not a single decade during the past 50 years saw an above-average number of major hurricanes â" not a single decade!

    Now letâ(TM)s look at the preceding 50 years in the hurricane record, before the alleged human-induced global warming crisis.

    During the decade 1951-1960, 9 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is above the 100-year average.

    During the decade 1941-1950, 11 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is substantially above the 100-year average.

    During the decade 1931-1940, 8 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is above the 100-year average.

    During the decade 1921-1930, 6 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is slightly below the 100-year average.

    During the decade 1911-1920, 8 major hurricanes struck the United States. That is above the 100-year average. ... During the past 5 decades, an average of 5.6 major hurricanes struck the United States.
    During the preceding 5 decades, and average of 8.4 major hurricanes struck the United States.

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:this is completely a lie by ljw1004 · · Score: 1

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/j...
      The National Hurricane Center (NHC) provides information on major U.S. hurricanes during the past 100-plus years.According to the NHC, 70 major hurricanes struck the United States in the 100 years between 1911 and 2010. That is an average of 7 major hurricane strikes per decade. What are the trends within this 100-year span? Let's take a look. Let's split the 100-year hurricane record in half, starting with major hurricane strikes during the most recent 50 years.... During the preceding decade...

      Did an arts graduate write that junk Forbes article? It's ridiculous and disingenuous to try to explain a TABLE of data with ad-hoc divisions like that. We're on slashdot; we should know better. Here's a graph with trend lines since 1978:

      https://wattsupwiththat.com/20...

      This trend line shows a slight decrease in hurricanes overall, but despite that a slight increase in major hurricanes. We'd have to do trend lines for the source data for the Forbes article to make sense of it.

    2. Re:this is completely a lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many times do we have to keep reminding people that the world is bigger than just the U.S.

      Nevermind that places like where I live today are seeing stronger and stronger wind storms. I'm in Arizona, a place known for a lack of natural disasters. In the past 10 years we've had mass hail events in the winter and storms strong enough to rip the roof off my house. I wasn't alone either.

      Contrast that with Vermont where I grew up, there were times this summer where Vermont was hotter than Arizona. The weather is going to continue to become less and less predictable. It doesn't help that we've allowed satellites to go into disrepair either. Arizona used to be famous for 300+ days of sun a year, that is no longer the case and I haven't even been here 20 years yet.

    3. Re:this is completely a lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That data seems to come up short. Wikipedia has us covered though.

      You look at places like the southern Atlantic basin, they don't frequently get hurricanes, except for the last decade where 6 of the 8 recorded storms have occurred.

      I think a lot of the confusion people wind up with on the data is that hurricanes aren't called hurricanes elsewhere. So a graph of hurricanes when talking about climate change isn't very useful.

  37. Re:This terrifies me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You've got it wrong

  38. Re:Welcome to the Post-Trump apocalypse by Salgak1 · · Score: 1

    . . . I expect Godzilla in 3. . . 2. . . 1. . .

  39. First you have to convince the deniers it's real by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    First you have to convince, or at least discredit, the climate-change deniers, so that there won't be constant roadblocks to trying to do something about it.

    Seriously, aside from the Dominionists, who literally want to destroy the Earth (because they think that'll bring Jesus back) I don't understand the logic (or lack thereof) behind the deniers, and never will I guess. When you have ONE of something (the Earth) and screwing it up beyond saving means you all DIE, then why is it so damned hard to play it safe? Things that pollute the air are what climatologists are saying is behind global warming. Things that pollute the air are not good for humans in any event; so how is it not a no-brainer to do things to reduce to eliminate those sources of pollution? Seriously.

  40. obSnowpiercer by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The hubris of this bunch is unbelievable. Faced with an ecosystem so unbelievably complex and interdependent that nobody can say with much confidence what is really going to happen down the road, they propose to massively, rapidly, and irreversibly alter a single variable in that system.

    What could possibly go wrong?

  41. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You crooked American have put enough poisons in the atmosphere and the water of this planet as is. Either stop building your stupid houses in sticks and cardboard, or just move out of the worst stricken areas.

  42. fix the problem dont bandaid it idiot "scientists" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or we could, as a species, you know, quit putting greed and short term thinking ahead of long term survival of the species.

  43. Re:Stop being an idiot by dslauson · · Score: 2

    That was about cat4/5, the article is about overall... learn to comprehend what your betters are talking about.

    The article may be about overall, but the statement I chose releates specifically to cat4/5, which is exactly what you were talking about.

    Also, calm down! Holy shit! If you're one of my "betters", the world is in rough shape.

  44. Stop talking to yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hey jackass, YOU are the one who cited info on cat4/5 hurricanes. You don't get to play that card and you are CERTAINLY NOT my better.

    1. Re:Stop talking to yourself by sexconker · · Score: 1

      It's SuperKendullard.

  45. Re:Welcome to the Post-Trump apocalypse by penandpaper · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can't use Godzilla. That is cultural appropriation.

  46. Fairness by HBI · · Score: 4, Informative

    The reason it wasn't a hurricane when it made landfall was that it had undergone an extratropical transition before landfall. Only tropical storms are hurricanes. The intensity was sufficient for the case.

    The reason it was such a big deal was that New Jersey/NY had not seen a hurricane since about 1988, and no direct hits since 1985 - I remember, because I had to evacuate that year. In the meantime, construction was performed by people who had forgotten that, yes, we do get hurricanes there, just very rarely. A lot of that construction was swamped and destroyed, with the requisite whining from all involved.

    Older people know full well that the area gets hurricanes and lived inland as a result. A wise government policy would prevent new construction in low-lying areas, but good luck getting that to happen in the face of all the money involved.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re: Fairness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, construction should not be prohibited. Relief should be prohibited and that fact widely broadcast to all potential residents. Areas at risk should have tents and light frame construction for recreational use, because people shouldn't be able to afford the insurance to build permanent structures there.

    2. Re:Fairness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slight correction to your post, typically speaking only tropical CYCLONES are "hurricanes". tropical storms are essentially a weaker stage in what is considered a "hurricane" with lower wind speed and less defined circulation, although they are still destructive in their own right. Tropical systems aren't classified as a "hurricane" unless the sustained wind speed is >64knots/74mph. Hurricane is just a name (in NA) used for a tropical system once it reaches a certain strength threshold. Its mostly a way to define the intensity of the storm. TC evolution:Tropical disturbance>tropical depression>tropical storm>tropical cyclone(hurricane/typhoon).

      Tropical thresholds definitions: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/t...
      Tropical cyclone definition: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/t... & https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/...

      Its quite common for tropical cyclones to downgrade once they reach land because warm and deep water it what drives them (primarily, there are other significant factors). The rapid change in moisture and temperature from water to land degrades or kills the average storm rapidly, although it will still leave an area of lower pressure with residual thunderstorms and the like.

      Posting ac since I'm moding.

      Disclaimer: The post is solely meant to be educational. Weatherman awayyyyy

    3. Re:Fairness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A wise government policy would prevent new construction in low-lying areas

      Or, instead of trying to involve The Mighty Hand Of All Powerful Government, why not let market forces do their job? Areas under threat from flooding and hurricane damage should have much higher insurance premiums, making it economically infeasible for construction.

      See what I did there? I let natural economic trends take care of the problem automatically and nobody had to grant the government more power to tell us what we can and cannot do. Everybody wins.

      I wish people would quit looking to the government as the first option to solve all our ills. It should be far down the list, ideally the last option.

    4. Re: Fairness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Government is just another word for community. Why would you want the community be the last option? That makes no sense to me.

  47. Funny thing... The hurricanes aren't worse or more by pubwvj · · Score: 2

    Funny how these people don't bother to mention the lull years and how they ignore the far bigger and more disastrous hurricanes of the past. Part of the problem is they measure the hurricanes by how much damage in money that is caused but the damages are going up not due to worse hurricanes but simply because of economic inflation, population increase and people building in bad locations.

  48. please try by doctorvo · · Score: 2

    I wish people would actually try to push through some of these proposals to cool the earth; the resulting lawsuits over lost farm productivity and other costs would quickly put to rest the idea that warmer temperatures are harmful.

    1. Re:please try by Artagel · · Score: 1

      Well, at some point a supervolcano is likely to test the hypothesis for us even if we don't do it. It might be next year, it might be 1000 years from now. But when it happens, we will see.

      Nature is kinda funny like that.

    2. Re:please try by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Ha, you think the 1% of farmers in the country has any political power? Anything they have is a leftover from a bygone era. The only reason the AGW denialists have any backing is because of big oil, which employs enough people and stuffs enough politician pockets to matter. As long as the solution isn't cutting carbon emissions, they won't do jack shit to stop it.

    3. Re:please try by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      would quickly put to rest the idea that warmer temperatures are harmful.

      Errr. You know a change in one direction being bad doesn't validate a change in the other direction.

      You know what's bad for farming: cooler temperatures.
      You know what else is bad for farming? : warmer temperatures.

      It's almost like our farm land and the use of it was based on the idea of the climate being suitable at the time the land was established.

    4. Re:please try by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      It's almost like our farm land and the use of it was based on the idea of the climate being suitable at the time the land was established.

      The distribution of arable land is constantly changing and has been throughout human history. Pretending that stabilizing CO2 levels will stabilize the distribution of arable land is a ridiculous lie.

      Generally, colder global temperatures mean less arable land, less precipitation, more deserts, and less agricultural output; warmer global temperatures mean more arable land, more precipitation, smaller deserts, and more agricultural output. I think the choice is pretty clear.

    5. Re:please try by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      The only reason the AGW activists have any backing is because left wing politicians are making their careers out of fear mongering and scientifically and economically illiterate idiots like you eat it up.

    6. Re:please try by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      The hypothesis has already been tested multiple times by regular volcanoes: even slight decreases in temperature are very costly.

    7. Re:please try by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Pretending that stabilizing CO2 levels will stabilize the distribution of arable land is a ridiculous lie.

      Why call out one variable? We're talking about climate here.

    8. Re:please try by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      Why call out one variable?

      Because that's the primary variable AGW activists are trying to control.

      We're talking about climate here.

      I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough: humans cannot stabilize the climate. Furthermore, humans cannot stabilize the distribution of arable land, and humans cannot stabilize coastlines, because those are constantly changing even in a stable global climate.

    9. Re:please try by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Just go back to licking corporate shit stains you fucktard. Or better yet, just go off yourself and stop dragging down Slashdot's IQ average.

      You're not the only one who can throw around insults.

    10. Re:please try by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      Or better yet, just go off yourself and stop dragging down Slashdot's IQ average.

      Well, this discussion is quite useful since we have identified one of your problems: you apparently think that a high IQ is a replacement for knowledge, expertise, and insight. It's a common misconception among people with your kind of hubris.

      You're not the only one who can throw around insults.

      It's not mean if it's true, and I'm afraid in your case, it's true.

    11. Re:please try by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      So you concede you have low IQ.

      I rest my case.

    12. Re:please try by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      So you concede you have low IQ.

      I'm sorry you still don't understand: IQ is as relevant to discussions of climate change as is dick size or shoe size.

      I rest my case.

      Good! The fewer dishonest left wing propagandists we have on Slashdot, the better.

  49. It's not even due to the Earth.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a solid link between sunspots and hurricanes/tornadoes. The fewer sunspots = fewer but more intense hurricanes/tornadoes. This isn't climate denying nonsense either but what seems to be solid science. Why does everyone have this need to link climate change to anything to do with the weather?

    http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/2010-06-01-hurricanes-sun_N.htm

    1. Re:It's not even due to the Earth.... by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Last sentence in your citation: "But I'd need to see more evidence."

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  50. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by doctorvo · · Score: 2

    Things that pollute the air are not good for humans in any event; so how is it not a no-brainer to do things to reduce to eliminate those sources of pollution? Seriously.

    Whether carbon dioxide is "pollution" is a question of politically-motivated definitions. However, carbon dioxide at up to a few thousand ppm is not harmful to humans or plants (in fact, it is beneficial).

    When you have ONE of something (the Earth) and screwing it up beyond saving means you all DIE, then why is it so damned hard to play it safe?

    If you look at Earth's history, you'll find that CO2 concentrations of 1000ppm, the highest we are likely to be able to achieve, are perfectly fine, and arguably beneficial.

    I don't understand the logic (or lack thereof) behind the deniers, and never will I guess

    The people you lump together as "deniers" hold a wide variety of beliefs. The majority are perfectly happy with the idea that it's getting warmer and that humans are contributing it. What we "deny" is that this is cause for concern, or that even if it were cause for concern, the cost of political action is justified by any potential benefits. People like you don't understand such arguments because you don't even understand the basics of science or climate and instead think in terms of apocalyptic terms like "screwing up the Earth" and propaganda like "CO2 is a pollutant".

  51. Re:Stop being an idiot by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Holy shit!. I have a 4 digit uuid and even I'm not that much of a asshole.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  52. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

    Well as someone that really isn't that sold on man made global warming mostly because of the techniques used to fill in statistical data sets. Remember they are trying to fill in gaps of information that just wasn't measured the thermometer was invented in the early 1700s and was no where near as accurate as todays thermometer. Using a world wide statistical model to predict climate change requires a lot more data than what we have actually measured. We know that the earth was much colder and much warmer in the past and the only thing we know for certain is that it is likely to get much warmer before it gets much colder again.

    That being said I'm all for cleaner, safer, more efficient, and cheaper forms of energy and production. I also think that it should be a priority because you are correct regardless the pollution we are creating now will cause problems even if it's not related to global warming.

  53. Did Msmash just read Superfreakonomics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here are two rebuttals from 2009!

    Seriously, this plan is akin to "Let's set off Yellowstone, that will cool the earth - Patent Pending Intellectual Ventures".

  54. precedent by citylivin · · Score: 1

    "We don't know who struck first, us or them, but we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun."

    Operation Dark Storm

    --
    As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
  55. Re:Funny thing... The hurricanes aren't worse or m by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because there was no lull in years. People really need to pull their heads out of their asses and realize that storms strike the rest of the world too. While we didn't get hit hard in the U.S. the rest of the world certainly saw some powerful storms. There were no hurricanes in the past that were far bigger than Harvey or Irma so you're also ignoring local info. Harvey dropped more rain in a single event than any storm in recorded history.

  56. Re:Funny thing... The hurricanes aren't worse or m by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  57. Nothing can go wrong ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since nothing can go awry with this scheme, there is no need to provide for reversing the injection of stuff ... Riiiight!

  58. Load of crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So its not ok for us to use our lawnmowers or grill some burgers because we supposedly hurt the environment. But it is ok for a bunch of rich, snob, ivory tower types to think they can save the world by injecting chemicals into the atmosphere to supposedly cool the earth off? The world warms up. The world cools off. We've been recording weather for less than 150 years. I don't buy these clowns can tell we had 1 hurricane a year 100000 years ago by looking at a rock or a line in the dirt. BS.

  59. It's all cyclically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They aren't stronger than ever or more numerous. It's just that our data doesn't go back far enough or is not accurate enough. It was theorized decades ago that La Niña and El Niño are themselves cyclical in strength and in number of storms. Just like some winters are more harsh than others, these are seasons of seasons of seasons. The earth is doing fine on a global scale. In some local areas it's been messed up good but the earth is incredible in its ability to clean itself (which a hurricane does for smog and air pollution in general, though it makes a mess of your trailer parks and housing areas).

    Look, evacuate when you're told to and make sure you have flood insurance. Also, backup your photos digitally to a cloud service that makes multiple global copies.

    Case-in-point, avoid the stupid with this "let's fix the earth" crap. I'm all for cleaner air but you're not going to make global changes, and if you could you'd probably make the wrong ones as is the case when human think they're fixing nature.

  60. Stupid Idea by prefec2 · · Score: 1

    There is a super simple way to address climate change. Reduce emissions (CO2, methane, etc.). Adding sulfur in the air has severe side effects.

    1. Re: Stupid Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet the US has just cancelled 3 nuclear power plants , some already had construction work started. Looks like fear of nuclear outweighs fear of climate manipulation.

  61. The seventh "One" by Monster_user · · Score: 1

    We don't know who struck first, us or them, but we know that it was us that scorched the sky.

  62. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    How does any of that invalidate anything I had to say?
    The things that are creating too much CO2 are also creating other noxious things that are bad to breathe. We're better off finding better replacements for them.
    Again: How does it really hurt anyone, or not make sense, to PLAY IT SAFE with the ONE PLANET we have to live on?
    I find no valid reasons not to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as we can manage it. Laziness is not a valid reason, by the way.

  63. Link to The Actual Online Journal by crunchygranola · · Score: 1

    Here is a link to the actual journal article, rather than these popularizations. Are we geeks or not?

    The paper does not discuss the process of injecting 5 teragrams (5 million tonnes) of SO2 into the stratosphere each year but since airliners fly in the lower stratosphere, and a 747-400 can carry 100+ tonnes as payload 50,000 flights a year could do this using planes that were flying SO2 tanks. If one plane could do 10 flights a day then a fleet of only 15 planes could handle the mission.

    Don't tell the chemtrail people about this.

    Although fighting pollution with more pollution is hardly an optimal approach, it is one weapon that is perhaps available. Since periodic injections of SO2 occur naturally (e.g. Pinatubo) we do have data about the lifetime of these aerosols. It appears that scavenging will prevent long-term effects if it is decided that this is not something we want to keep doing.

    --
    Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
    1. Re:Link to The Actual Online Journal by kenh · · Score: 1

      The paper does not discuss the process of injecting 5 teragrams (5 million tonnes) of SO2 into the stratosphere each year but since airliners fly in the lower stratosphere, and a 747-400 can carry 100+ tonnes as payload 50,000 flights a year could do this using planes that were flying SO2 tanks. If one plane could do 10 flights a day then a fleet of only 15 planes could handle the mission.

      So 150 flights day, every day, for the next 50 years? Are you sure you can safely shove 100 tonnes of SO2 into a pressurized tank that fits inside a 747? (in other words, what is the volume of 100 tonnes of SO2 compared to the volume of a 747?)

      One tonne of CO2 (a rough approximation of SO2) occupies 556 cubic meters

      Volume of one ton CO2 = 22730moles × 24.47L/mole = 556200L = 556.2m

      Source: http://www.icbe.com/carbondata...

      Volume of a Boeing 747 is 150,000 cubic feet:

      Source: http://www.answers.com/Q/What_...

      In cubic meters, the volume is 4248 cubic meters:

      https://www.bing.com/search?q=...

      So 100 tonnes of SO2 occupies 556 x 100, or 55,600 cubic meters, 11x the volume of a Boeing 747... We're gonna need a lot more planes.

      --
      Ken
    2. Re:Link to The Actual Online Journal by crunchygranola · · Score: 1

      Ah grasshopper, you know absolutely nothing about handling gases! I expect that you have encountered the idea that gas can be compressed and/or liquified and stored in tanks however.

      Sulfur dioxide is very easily liquefied (if has been uses a refrigerant since the 19th century) and a room temperature has a vapor pressure of only 2.5 atmospheres, so a light weight low pressure container easily holds it (you would need a 3.5 atmosphere container of course to hold it as you climb to the stratosphere). If you like you can refrigerate it to lower the vapor pressure even further.

      The density of sulfur dioxide is 2.6, which is 2.6 tonnes per cubic meter. So 100 tonnes can be loaded into a pressure tank with a volume of only 40 cubic meters, not 55,600 cubic meters. It would be a little bitty (but heavy) tank. The SO2 would vaporize completely when the pressure was released through a nozzle.

      --
      Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
    3. Re:Link to The Actual Online Journal by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      What I'd like to know is where they're going to get the 5 billion tonnes per year of sulphate (about 1.6 billion tonnes of sulphur ; add oxygen to your desired oxidation state). Current annual production of sulphuric acid acid is about 250million tonnes/ year, so that industry needs to be stepped up by a factor of around 20. Also, mining of sulphur/ sulphate minerals by around 20-fold.

      OK, call me an idiot of a geologist, but I do wonder where the materials are going to come from. The billions of tonnes of materials. 30-odd million tonnes/ day - or using up most of the curent annual production in a couple of weeks.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    4. Re:Link to The Actual Online Journal by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Grasshopper also forgets that both SO2 and CO2 are pretty soluble in water, which further reduces the vapour pressure. Where the optimal solution lays, I don't know, but it's a reasonably simple task of chemical engineering.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  64. al gore global warming by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    al gore may have a point about global warming and ManBearPig

  65. Hurricanes serve a purpose in climate control by fourfaces · · Score: 0

    In my opinion, hurricanes are part of the earth climate control mechanism that gets rid of excess heat in the atmosphere. This is why there are fewer Atlantic hurricanes during an El Nino period.

    1. Re:Hurricanes serve a purpose in climate control by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      They don't get rid of excess heat, they are a sign of it moving rapidly (by triggering convection currents of a high latent heat of evaporation vapour) form sea surface to upper atmosphere, from where it can radiate into space.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  66. Pacific Hurricanes by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2

    If you want to be pedantic they are called typhoons in the pacific

    That's not being pedantic since it is technically not even right. This is being pedantic: only tropical cyclones which develop in the western Pacific are called typhoons. Those that develop in the central and eastern Pacific are called hurricanes and those that develop in the Indian and southern Pacific are called cyclones.

    1. Re:Pacific Hurricanes by avandesande · · Score: 1

      I am happy that you are proud of you pedantry :)

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
  67. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    A technological civilization is good for humans. Maintaining and improving it requires the expenditure of energy, which inevitably causes pollution.

    Pollution can be reduced, and it's being worked on. Screaming, like you, that We're all gonna die doesn't help make things better, it makes you look like an Al Gore fool.

    People deny the claims of anthropogenic global warming fraudsters because the case for AGW is far from proved, and the proposed "solutions" cause immense harm to freedom and human well-being.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  68. Fake news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Moar coal mines! Moar wigs and golden showers!

  69. Scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The biggest scam ever conceived. All they have to do is pretend to do something, and pocket most of the money. Mankind can't make the Earth cooler any more then it can make the Earth warmer.

    All over an imagined global warming invented up by Al Gore to get rich.

  70. Easy Method by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    Allow NASA to " fix " the Yellowstone Volcano threat per a recent story.

    Watch as things don't quite go as planned.

    Yellowstone does it's thing, goes all fire and brimstone and cools the entire planet off in the process. ( After cooking half the US )

    Global warming solved. Global Cooling becomes the new buzz word.

  71. Mediation of storm path by mattr · · Score: 1

    Has anyone put thought into how to move or disrupt a storm such as these? True, they carry a huge amount of energy, but we know exactly where it is. Would an off-center orbital kinetic bombardment have any effect beyond injecting more energy into the mess? Other ways to alter its environment?

  72. Re: First you have to convince the deniers it's re by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure.... as soon as we can manage it. How is your cold fusion generator invention coming along?

    If you want to save the earth then as you say play it safe and turn off your phone, computer, music player, tv, stop driving a car or even using the bus or train, stop eating from the grocery store or restaurants, well, really, you'll have to live in isolation somewhere and grow your own food with rain water yo collect in barrels you made from trees that fell from lightning strikes.

    Anyway back here in the reality land of non hypocritical non stupid people we like living in the first world and understand that without fossil fuels our lives would be short, ugly, and brutal and we're not willing to suffer like that because an ignorant fool like you thinks "were screwing ups da skies! Oh noez!".

    Now go get a brain, a real education about the world to fill it and leave the decisions to the adults until you're ready for the real world.

  73. Wingnut Logic by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    It costs too much to mitigate climate change (keeping climate as the farmers have known it for centuries), but dealing with much of the Rockies being on fire in the north (from dry and hot temperatures) and the south being flooded from powerful hurricanes (wet and hot temperatures) is completely free!

    1. Re:Wingnut Logic by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      ut dealing with much of the Rockies being on fire in the north (from dry and hot temperatures) and the south being flooded from powerful hurricanes (wet and hot temperatures) is completely free!

      Even if they were caused by climate change, the solution is simple: those structures have already been destroyed, the federal government is foolishly paying for the damage, so let's simply not allow people to rebuild in areas that are prone to hurricanes or flooding, either naturally or from climate change.

      Right now, progressives are wanting the government to spend to rebuild in areas threatened by climate change and then simultaneously use those risks to justify spending even more money to combat climate change. It's a crony capitalist scheme on an utterly unprecedented scale.

    2. Re:Wingnut Logic by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Right now, progressives are wanting the government to spend to rebuild in areas threatened by climate change and then simultaneously use those risks to justify spending even more money to combat climate change. It's a crony capitalist scheme on an utterly unprecedented scale.

      Progressives are opposed to crony capitalism, so I'd like to see links to these progressives wanting Houston - that's suffered what, it third 500 year flood in three years - to rebuild in areas that have been wiped out. Areas that mostly affect poor residents.

    3. Re:Wingnut Logic by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      Progressives are opposed to crony capitalism,

      Everybody is opposed to crony capitalism. The question is whose actions actually promote it, and progressives and Democrats are at the top of the list there. Many Republicans in practice do as well. But for progressives and Democrats promoting crony capitalism is an essential part of the policies they espouse, even while at the same time they claim to oppose it.

      I'd like to see links to these progressives wanting Houston - that's suffered what, it third 500 year flood in three years - to rebuild in areas that have been wiped out. Areas that mostly affect poor residents.

      Progressives and Democrats usually do things that look good cosmetically ("help poor residents") while promoting crony-capitalist policies that cause these problems in the long run (support and subsidize NFIP).

    4. Re:Wingnut Logic by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Everybody is opposed to crony capitalism. The question is whose actions actually promote it, and progressives and Democrats are at the top of the list there.

      Progressives are at "the top of the list" for supporting crony capitalism like right-wing conservatives are "at the top of the list" for supporting abortion rights and gun control, or how libertarians are at "the top of the list" for supporting nationalization of industry.

    5. Re:Wingnut Logic by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      Progressives are at "the top of the list" for supporting crony capitalism

      Again, I didn't say that progressives "support" crony capitalism, I said they "promote" it. That is, the policies they actually implement lead to widespread crony capitalism, even though they say they oppose it. That's a fundamental problem with progressives: the policies they implement frequently (and predictably) achieve the opposite of what they claim to stand for.

      right-wing conservatives are "at the top of the list" for supporting abortion rights and gun control, or how libertarians are at "the top of the list" for supporting nationalization of industry.

      Right wing conservatives neither support nor promote abortion rights or gun controls, and libertarians do not promote anything because they have no political power.

    6. Re:Wingnut Logic by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Again, I didn't say that progressives "support" crony capitalism, I said they "promote" it.

      No distinction or difference.

      Right wing conservatives neither support nor promote abortion rights or gun controls, and libertarians do not promote anything because they have no political power.

      Hand waiving.

    7. Re:Wingnut Logic by doctorvo · · Score: 1

      Again, I didn't say that progressives "support" crony capitalism, I said they "promote" it.

      No distinction or difference.

      "Promote" in the sense of "cause to happen, facilitate", not in the sense of "advocate": for progressives and Democrats, there is a strong contradiction between what they say they stand for and what their policies actually cause.

      Hand waiving.

      No, not handwaving. American Democrats and progressives were responsible for segregation, eugenics, and corporatism; they sympathized with European fascists, and their political programs continue to overlap strongly with traditional fascist political programs.

  74. What about entropy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is an idiotic idea! It is not just about energy balance. The entropy balance is even more important. If they shade the sunlight the earth's capability to sustain life will diminish.

  75. Wisdom follows, pay attention! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > researchers noted that the volcanic eruption in 1912 of Katmai in Alaska "loaded the Northern Hemisphere with aerosol [sulfates], and [was] followed by the least active hurricane season on record."

    It was also followed by World War I (1914-1918) resulting in the death of 15+ million people in action and a further 80 million due to the global "spanish flu" epidemic which wartime malnutrition caused.

  76. What could possibly go wrong? by kenh · · Score: 1

    I mean seriously, it's not like we humans don't have a rock-solid understanding of the climate and the forces that control it, right?

    --
    Ken
  77. _this_ is why there are climate change deniers by fygment · · Score: 1

    Seriously the entire message with this ilk of 'solution' is:

    "Hey people you can keep doing things just the way you always have, we the [engineers, scientists, politicians] have a silver bullet. Trust us."

    There is no climate problem, there _is_ a problem with our rampant disregard for the limits of our resources and the grossly wasteful way we use them. The real problem how we treat our planet regardless of what the atmosphere is doing. Anyone waving a threat in your face without addressing the real issue is just looking for profit or power.

    --
    "Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
  78. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by doctorvo · · Score: 1

    I find no valid reasons not to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as we can manage it. Laziness is not a valid reason, by the way.

    Laziness? People have been looking for alternatives to fossil fuels and for reducing the amount of combustion for as long as we have used fossil fuels. Nuclear fission would have been an excellent and cost-effective alternative, but it was killed through politics and regulations. Solar may become cost-competitive within 1-2 decades (this requires cheaper solar cells and better storage technologies); as soon as it does, it will take over. Until it becomes cost-competitive, you can subsidize and legislate as much as you want to, it won't make any difference.

    Again: How does it really hurt anyone

    Well, how does it hurt you to cut your salary in half? That's what completely eliminating fossil fuels would do to everybody on the planet at this point, in the best case. The massive reductions in poverty and hunger across the globe over the past century have been dependent on massive use of cheap energy.

    or not make sense, to PLAY IT SAFE with the ONE PLANET we have to live on?

    Burning fossil fuels may or may not be a threat to beach front property in Florida a few centuries from now, but it is not a "threat to the one planet we live on".

  79. Re:Funny thing... The hurricanes aren't worse or m by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Economic damage is very relevant, as things need to be repaired.

    In terms of loss of life, building codes are better now in hurricane areas, disaster relief is better, warnings and evacuation are more refined, and medical care is better, so you'd expect a downward trend in loss of life, even with increasing severity and frequency of storms.

  80. Chemtrail++ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Chemtrail++

  81. Navier-Stokes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Navier-Stokes equations, which describe fluid dynamics, are fundamentally chaotic in a mathematical sense. That means you can NEVER reliably predict how your attempt to "re-engineer" the Earth's atmosphere would turn out. You could just as easily turn the Earth into another Venus or Mars, either of which would be inhospitable to life at all!

    It would be very, very stupid and suicidal to try.

  82. Political Solution by jman.org · · Score: 1

    Why don't we just have the current US CEO declare hurricanes (especially those with foreign sounding names) to be illegal immigrants, and thus not allowed to enter the country?

    I for one would love to see our Border Patrol agents try to stop one; not to mention what kind of wall it would take, or how we'd get the storms to pay for it...

  83. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    There's obviously no point in continuing this discussion because you're clearly a human-caused climate change denier, probably Republican, and therefore anything I say goes in one ear and out the other. Replies will be ignored.

  84. Re:Funny thing... The hurricanes aren't worse or m by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There were hurricanes in the past that were far bigger than Harvey and Imo, so you're also ignoring info.

    Note that I provided exactly as much evidence for this as you did. Don't bother trying to provide such evidence now, it simply doesn't exist for more than the tiniest, most insignificant amount of time.

  85. Re:First you have to convince the deniers it's rea by doctorvo · · Score: 1

    There's obviously no point in continuing this discussion because you're clearly a human-caused climate change denier

    Nothing I said "denies" the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change.

    probably Republican

    I used to be a Democrat until 2016. I'm an independent now. Come 2018 or 2020, I'm a gay man, a scientist, and an immigrant too. I may well become a Republican, since the Democrats have clearly been taken over by anti-science zealots. You illustrate this well.

    therefore anything I say goes in one ear and out the other. Replies will be ignored.

    Welcome to the new Democrats and the progressive movement: bigoted, intolerant, unwilling to listen, and anti-science.

  86. One word: CHEMTRAILS! by PlaynBass · · Score: 1

    To listen to some of the tin foil hatted people on the internet, the guvmint is ALREADY doing this shit!

    I just wonder what all those sulfides in the atmosphere are going to do to affect the acid rain situation...

    It's been awhile since I've studied chemistry, but don't sulfates mixed with water create sulfuric acid?

    Doesn't sound like something I'd like dripping into MY water cycle!

    I think my imaginary rabbit has better ideas than this one!

    --
    PlaynBass
  87. Re:Funny thing... The hurricanes aren't worse or m by pubwvj · · Score: 1

    Last year was a lull year. It had been predicted, by the neo-eco-freaks, to be a horrible hurricane year. It turned out to be a bust with much less than the usual hurricane activity worldwide.