Is Interfering with Hurricanes Worth It?
7/17/2009 3:37 PM
By Gina Cherundolo
AccuWeather.com
In the past few years, Atlantic hurricanes have wreaked havoc on coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico, causing destruction of both lives and property.
But can anything be done to weaken hurricanes? Microsoft founder Bill Gates and a team of scientists think there is.
Gates and his team have a patent pending for a technological system that may put a stop to powerful hurricanes in the Gulf by altering the temperature of the ocean.
The technology is a system of devices that feature floating tubs attached to pipes that extend to the ocean's depths. One pipe pumps deeper, colder water to the surface, while a second pipe pumps the warmer surface water to the bottom. These devices are portable and can be dropped from airplanes in a oncoming hurricane's path.
Tropical hurricanes rely on warm water to fuel the towering thunderstorms, which make the storm more powerful. A storm traveling over cooler water temperatures would have weaker thunderstorms, and the intensity of the storm could weaken considerably.
Despite this, there are still a lot of unknowns about how hurricanes gain strength.
"We don't fully understand enough about hurricane intensification to have faith in this experiment," AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said.
"Ocean temperatures are only part of what sustains a hurricane," said AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity.
"Cutting off the ocean's warmth does not mean the storm will weaken quickly," Margusity said. Other factors such as storm size, moisture projected and concentration of thunderstorms in the area can all affect the strength of a storm.
However, hurricane paths are not always precise, and dropping the devices in the proper location in time for the waters to cool and the storm to pass over them may not always be easy, Kottlowski noted.
"The track of a storm can always change," Kottlowski said. "We don't know exactly how much water would have to cool before it has a major affect on a hurricane, especially an intense hurricane."
Altering underwater ocean current and temperature can also have serious consequences for marine life. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also argues that changing the ocean temperature on the surface would harm marine ecosystems.
"...Consider the creatures of the sea. If you suddenly cool the surface layer of the ocean... you would alter the ecology of that area and probably kill most of the sea life contained therein," NOAA's Hurricane Research Division said on its Web site. "A hurricane would be devastating enough on them without our adding to the mayhem."
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