Perhaps the first efforts to control the weather involved prayer or rain dances, but in the modern era it has become the focus of varying technologies that are being attempted by Europeans, Asians and Americans. Even the King of Thailand has created a method of creating and steering rain clouds. Five different technologies, among many others, are presented to control the weather including controlling storms and creating artificial tornadoes and lightning as well as creating and steering rain and snow clouds.
U.S. Patent Application 20100072297 describes a method for controlling hurricanes. According to inventors Manilal J Savla (Manalapan, NJ) and Vishal T. Shah (Parlin, NJ) the method for controlling and steering hurricanes involves raising temperature in the eye and/or in the outflow. Air temperature within the eye and in the outflow of a hurricane is raised by flying scores of jet planes with afterburners in the structure. Small changes in temperature on a large scale bring in large changes in other variables on the smaller scale to change the direction and intensity of the hurricane. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization and other US agencies fly planes through hurricanes routinely to do research and collect scientific data.
In recent research supported by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concept, Ross Hoffman advanced his theory of “chaotic” system. This theory of so-called “butterfly effect” shows a small nudge in a chaotic system, for example hurricane, can produce chain reaction big enough to knock the hurricane off its course and also reduce its strength. Computer simulations of small changes in temperature showed control of track and intensity of hurricanes. One plausible approach suggested for actual hurricane control was to use microwave energy to heat up selected portions of hurricane using a ring of solar satellites. However, this solution is still far away many years for practical use.
According to Savla and Shah, their invention proposes to bring about small changes in temperature by using a fleet of flying jet planes with afterburners. Flight patterns, locations in the hurricane structure and number of aircrafts as well as duration of flights are determined doing a computer simulation using an appropriate software program.
In U.S. Patent Application 20110248498, entitled Generating Electrical Power Utilizing Surface-Level Hot Air As The Heat Source, High Atmosphere As The Heat Sink And A Microwave Beam To Initiate And Control Air Updraft, inventor Slobodan Tepic (Zurich, CH) describes a way to create artificial tornadoes The invention uses a renewable source for electricity generation utilizing a solar chimney created by a microwave beam to form an artificial tornado.
An electrical power plant, according to Tepic, is to operate preferably on a platform floating at sea, utilizing hot humid air as the heat source and the high atmosphere as the heat sink. Anchored along the continental coasts of the tropical/subtropical oceans, where average absorbed solar insulation is in the range of 200 to 300 W/m.sub.2 and sea surface temperatures are on the order of 300 K, such plants could be built to continuously operate at a gigawatt (GW) level. Air circulation around the center of the plant resembles a natural cyclone; vertical outflow is induced by buoyancy of the air column above the plant heated by a microwave beam aimed from the plant upward. The frequency of the microwave beam is centered at approximately 60 GHz, within an absorption band of molecular oxygen. The preferred source of the microwave beam is a gyrotron.
According to Tepic, in addition to clean electrical power, the plant can also provide clean water from condensation out of the humid, sea level air. Anchoring rows of such power plants along the coasts most threatened by large weather storms (called hurricanes in the Atlantic, typhoons in the Pacific and tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean) would also produce barriers these storms could not cross because sea surface air would be colder and less humid.
Creating And Steering Rain Clouds
Bhumibol Adulyadej, His Majesty King of Thailand; (Bangkok, TH) in U.S. Patent Application 20050056705, entitled Weather Modification By Royal Rainmaking Technology, proposes a system to create artificial rain clouds and steer them to where rain is needed. `Royal Rainmaking Technology` is described as weather modification by means of chemical seeding comprises steps of “Triggering”, to activate cloud formation; “Fattening”, to promote cloud growth; “Moving”, to move cloud to a designated area, and “Attacking” to initiate rainfall from cloud. Attacking can be done by at least 3 different techniques; by `Sandwich Seeding Technique` for `warm cloud`, by `Glaciogenic Seeding Technique` for `cool cloud`, or by `Super Sandwich Seeding Technique` for mixed phase cloud. `Enhancing` is for enhancing amount of rainfall and prolonging raining duration including increasing area coverage. Weather modification extends to dispersion of cloud into clear flight path, prevention of hail formation, and inducing rainfall from stratiform clouds onto a valley or any catchment areas. Seeding may be performed inside or outside a cloud or to the top or underneath any isolated cloud or cloud band.
Artificial Lightning And Controlling Cyclones
Inventor Bernard Eastlund (La Jolla, CA) in U.S. Patent Application 20070238252, entitled Cosmic particle ignition of artificially ionized plasma patterns in the atmosphere,reveals a method and apparatus for creating artificially ionized regions in the atmosphere utilizing ionization trails of cosmic rays and micro-meteors to ignite plasma patterns in electric field patterns formed by ground based electromagnetic wave radiators. The applications are useful for telecommunications, weather control, lightening protection and defense applications. The invention lowers the power requirements for forming artificial ionized regions in the atmosphere by a factor of up to 1600 times lower than those required in existing designs and projections for creation of artificial ionized regions in the atmosphere.
According to Eastlund, the invention has a phenomenal variety of possible ramifications and potential future developments. As alluded to earlier, a variety of telecommunications systems for improvement of local cellular systems, short haul standalone cellular systems, city wide cellular systems and long haul communications systems could result. Two new approaches to weather modification and control are suggested. The first is for manipulation of the steering winds that control the development of mesocyclones, or the modification of the directions of the jet streams that influence development of hurricanes. The second is a method for influencing the electrical charge distribution in weather patterns such as meso-cyclones. Possible defense applications include a method of accelerating electrons to MEV energies in conjunction with the HAARP antenna. Research applications include the creation of bright and controlled guide stars for astrophysical purposes. Thus it can be seen that the ramifications are numerous, far-reaching, and exceedingly varied in usefulness.
Making Any Type Of Precipitation
Inventors Helmut Fluhrer (Zug, CH); Elena Davydova; (Egmating, DE) and Yuri Saveliev; (Shailer Park, AU) in U.S. Patent Application 20110174892 describe an apparatus for weather modification. The apparatus comprises an emitter electrode, means for providing the emitter electrode with an electric charge, electrically coupled to the emitter electrode, an insulating support for supporting the emitter electrode at a predetermined height, and means for earthing the apparatus.
Entitled Apparatus And Related Methods For Weather Modification By Electrical Processes In The Atmosphereand assigned to Meteo Systems International Ag (Zug, CH) , the inventors say an apparatus for weather modification is provided that can create rain clouds and control the intensity and type of precipitation from such rain, drizzle, snow, hail, and so forth to a targeted area.
The method comprises the steps of providing an emitter electrode, analyzing the meteorological situation in and/or close to the target region, and providing the emitter electrode with an electric charge in response to the meteorological analysis, thereby causing the emitter electrode to ionize the vicinity of the emitter electrode.
The invention relates to methods and devices for modifying atmospheric conditions, known in this context as weather modification, by enhancing electric forces exerted on and between particles of atmospheric air such as water particles, aerosols, molecular clusters, and water molecules possessing their own electric dipole moment. Particular applications of weather control require specific methods and devices for their implementation. Using electrical methods of weather modification for other purposes such as dispersion of fog, which is cloud located on or near the surface of the Earth; increasing cloud coverage over selected regions, particularly the ocean; and increasing oceanic moisture inflow inland, would in general require specific methods and parameters of the invention.