Managing the hurricane

It is not always the terrorist threat that puts Americans on guard. It could be a sudden electrical power breakdown. Or it could be Hurrican...

It is not always the terrorist threat that puts Americans on guard. It could be a sudden electrical power breakdown. Or it could be Hurricane Isabel.

During the last few months many parts of the world have experienced extreme weather happenings, be it the heat wave over France or Hurricane Isabel. These occurrences raise a question: In the 21st century when we can do genetic mapping of the human body, send humans into space, forecast the date of a meteor strike, is it not possible to stop hurricanes?

The answer is yes and no. Yes because, theoretically, it is possible to weaken the storm, and no because the further implications of doing so are not yet clear. Any human attempt to exercise some control over the weather, like artificial creation of rain or weakening the force of the hurricane is known as ‘weather modification’. American scientists have done substantial research in this field. Today, experiments like the artificial creation of rain, removing fog from the airfield, are being undertaken. But these are small-scale experiments.

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It is very difficult to manage a system the size and intensity of a hurricane. It covers an area of tens of thousands of square miles and releases heat energy the equivalent of a 10-megaton nuclear bomb. From 1961 to 1980, Americans conducted extensive research into the possibility of weakening hurricanes with cloud-seeding techniques. The attempt, christened Project Stormfury, was to seed the first rain band outside the wall of clouds around the eye of a storm. This cloud seeding would set off physical processes to weaken the storm.

The hypothesis was first tested in 1961 in the eye wall of Hurricane Esther about 400 miles north of Puerto Rico. The hurricane stopped growing and showed signs of weakening. More experiments were carried out with some success. A few scientists suggested using nuclear bombs to destroy the storm. However, this idea was not found practicable because it could have created high storm surges apart from releasing radioactivity.

Today scientists are more cautious about trying to modify hurricanes than during the 1960s. Hurricanes, alongwith other storms and ocean currents, help balance the Earth’s heat budget. Tampering with their nature could set off unintended consequences in the global environmental system.

But the need for slowing down the hurricane exists to prevent damage to human lives and property. Also, human beings love the idea of dominating nature. Weather modification is both serious business as well as a playground for those who want to score points against nature.