I'll admit that I'm not completely sold on this, or any, idea that changes what naturally occurs in the atmosphere. But there are a team of environmental scientists who believe cloud seeding could ultimately weaken the strength of a hurricane by one category.
The article (found here) states that in a paper published in the Atmospheric Science Letter the authors "propose using cloud seeding to decrease sea surface temperatures where hurricanes form. Theoretically, the team claims the technique could reduce hurricane intensity by a category." Now I'm not an expert in cloud seeding projects but I do know there have been many to try and create rainfall in drought stricken places and to my knowledge, they haven't been completely successful. What this project proposes is that rather than seeding storm clouds or hurricanes directly they would seed the marine stratocumulus clouds which cover an estimated quarter of the world's ocean to try and prevent hurricanes from forming.
To understand what exactly this means we first need to understand what cloud seeding is. Cloud seeding is an intentional weather modification where the process of either dry ice, or more commonly silver iodide aerosols, are added into the upper part of a cloud; typically a storm cloud to encourage the precipitation process and produce rain. Most rainfall starts through the growth of ice crystals from super-cooler water droplets (droplets that are below the freezing temperature) in the cloud. The silver iodide particles act as nuclei for these super-cooled water droplets to form around and 'theoretically' help promote the growth of new ice crystals.
What this paper is suggesting is that instead of putting the these particles directly into the hurricane, which was once attempted and failed, scientists will target the marine stratocumulus clouds in the Atlantic to try and create more cloud cover therefore reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the ocean. Tropical systems gain their energy from the warm sea surface temperatures. If the sun can't reach the ocean then the temperature would decrease, therefore weakening the approaching hurricane. Unfortunately, this may also have an impact on the amount of rainfall surrounding regions see.
My view on this: It's hard to determine what the outcome may be even if we use the most advanced technology to try and forecast that ending result. While the strength of hurricanes may have increased
within recent years what would be the long term affects of this potential project and how might that affect our climate in the future? What do you think?
To understand what exactly this means we first need to understand what cloud seeding is. Cloud seeding is an intentional weather modification where the process of either dry ice, or more commonly silver iodide aerosols, are added into the upper part of a cloud; typically a storm cloud to encourage the precipitation process and produce rain. Most rainfall starts through the growth of ice crystals from super-cooler water droplets (droplets that are below the freezing temperature) in the cloud. The silver iodide particles act as nuclei for these super-cooled water droplets to form around and 'theoretically' help promote the growth of new ice crystals.
What this paper is suggesting is that instead of putting the these particles directly into the hurricane, which was once attempted and failed, scientists will target the marine stratocumulus clouds in the Atlantic to try and create more cloud cover therefore reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the ocean. Tropical systems gain their energy from the warm sea surface temperatures. If the sun can't reach the ocean then the temperature would decrease, therefore weakening the approaching hurricane. Unfortunately, this may also have an impact on the amount of rainfall surrounding regions see.
My view on this: It's hard to determine what the outcome may be even if we use the most advanced technology to try and forecast that ending result. While the strength of hurricanes may have increased
within recent years what would be the long term affects of this potential project and how might that affect our climate in the future? What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment