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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.

4 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

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

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

  3. 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.

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

    Can't use Godzilla. That is cultural appropriation.