Gasecki.wiki.spring.2011

 Cloud Seeding and it's Effects on Hurricane Development

Stephen Gasecki

As the worlds population continues to grow exponentially, CO2 emissions, and water shortages become an increasing problem that must be dealt with as quickly as possible. CO2 emissions from factories, automobiles and any burning of fossil fuels is believed to be the cause of phenomenon know worldwide as Global Warming. CO2 is classified in a group of gases known as greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are defined by dictionary.com as "Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation produced by solar warming of the Earth's surface. They include [|carbon dioxide] (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (NO 2 ), and [|water vapor]. Although greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, the elevated levels especially of carbon dioxide and methane that have been observed in recent decades are directly related, at least in part, to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and the deforestation of tropical forests." -Dictionary.com



The notable increase in the concentration of CO2 in the upper atmosphere is the cause of a worldwide rise in temperature. The reason for this is because a percentage of the solar radiation from the sun that enters our atmosphere and heats the surface is normally reflected back into space giving us our average temperatures. With addition Greenhouse gases in the upper levels of the atmosphere however, a larger percentage of solar radiation is not only absorbed into the atmosphere but is trapped in it as well because the greenhouse gases inhibit the atmospheres reflective properties. The global rise of temperatures is speculated to be the cause of increasing storm intensity and number, especially in the case of hurricanes and with good reason.

A hurricane uses warm water and the convective lift of the moist air associated with the warm water as fuel and its driving force. With a global increase of surface temperatures and similar change of temperature can be observed in the oceans. As the temperature of the ocean rises storms can occur more frequently and at much stronger intensities. Some scientists believe that in recent years the strength of these storms has increased by more than 45%. The increased intensity is bad news for all coastal cities that can expect hurricanes during hurricane season and Katrina may not be the biggest disaster in a year or so; unless something is done in order to either lower the global temperature or weak the intensity of the storms before they can make landfall.



One method to control both the global temperature as well as weaken the tropical development of a hurricane is known as cloud seeding

Cloud Seeding Cloud seeding is a process of using aircraft, and other means, in order to inject particles into the upper atmosphere in an attempt to form clouds, change clouds, or increase precipitation. Cloud seeding targets the two different methods to produce a cloud, the warm cloud and the cold cloud processes. The warm cloud process is the result of a parcel of warm air rising to a level where it reaches a saturation of 100% and a visible cloud is formed. The cold cloud process is the formation of cloud around a condensation nuclei, normally and ice crystal, to which water molecules attach and produce a visible cloud.

The Cloud seeding process is used to cool the surface by increasing the reflectivity of our upper atmosphere as well as inducing precipitation. Cloud seeding is used by countries globally with great results. China and other Asian countries have already begun to use this process to increase the amount of precipitation of the rain showers in their area. The most common chemical used in cloud seeding is Silver Iodine. Silver Iodine is used to produce a cold cloud because AgI is similar to an ice crystal and allows water molecules to attach easily. Silver Iodine also has a larger reflective property it introduces to the cloud because of the Silver atoms now in place. A separate method, one that uses the warm cloud process, is the dispersion of dry ice into the clouds, the rapid expansion of the gases of the dry ice cool the surrounding air to the saturation point to produce a cloud. This dry ice process is rarely used because of its counter-productivity.

The most common way to get the Silver Iodine into the upper atmosphere is by both commercial aircraft and military fitted with the proper equipment to release the chemicals. The commercial aircraft are not used as often because of the cost to fit the aircraft and training required to teach the pilots of these planes to use it. Most cloud seeding is done by either military or a company which specializes in seeding. In the most basic description the aircraft fly through the area wanted to be seeded and release the chemicals, letting chemistry and meteorology take care of the rest. The release of chemicals by aircraft are known as Chemtrails. However, they are often confused for a naturally occurring process of flight.

Creating Chemtrails

Chemtrails are formed from the dispersion of chemicals in the upper atmosphere. Contrails also occur in the upper atmosphere by airplanes and can sometimes be mistaken for Chemtrails. Contrails, however, occur from airplanes for a different reason. Contrails are the result of incomplete combustion of jetfuel. The leftover materials from the incomplete combustion act as a condensation nuclei on which water molecules attach and a visible cloud is formed. Chemtrails Vs. Contrails

Alternative Methods for Seeding

Video on Cloud Alteration media type="youtube" key="fg7J8P-uXqM" height="349" width="560"

Methods for cloud seeding by means other than aircraft include land based generators (CNGs), self-propelled ships, and rockets. The land based generators burn propane in order to vaporized the Silver Iodine which is in a solution with another chemical during a passing storm.

(CNG) Cloud Nucleating Generator

Unmanned Cloud Seeding Ship

Cloud Seeding Rocket/ Truck

Effects on Hurricane Development Sources

Research of an alternate use for Cloud seeding is efforts to control Hurricanes, both in the development stages and the paths they take. Studies of cloud seeding to alter hurricane formation have been conducted since the 1940s. The theory behind the process is to drop dry ice ( Frozen CO2) into the heart of a developing hurricane. The dry ice will sublimate (turn directly from solid to gas) as it encounters the warm air of the hurricane and effectively cooling the center of the hurricane which will in turn weaken the system. Early efforts by the navy in conjunction with scientist had thought be a success, but this was before upper level wind steering was understood.

After several strong storms made landfall in the US and caused billions of dollars in damages the government came back to the idea in an effort to control the tropical system. For a period between the 1950s and 1980 there where attempts to weaken a few hurricanes, but because the government did not want to worsen a hurricane, experimentation could only be used on hurricanes well offshore. The greatest results seen was a decrease of maximum winds by 31%. This sparked the governments interest in Hurricanes greatly and could be said to have lead to the Hurricane Hunter aircraft and National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fl.

Unfortunately for the program that was seeding clouds, the funding was ended in the 1980s after there was not sufficient evidence to support cloud seeding had actually weakened any of the storms. There have been recent studies on effectively cooling either water ahead of the storm or the storms core in recent times, however no true experimentation has occurred. Perhaps had cloud seeding of hurricanes had continued to be funded the Katrina disaster could have been avoided.

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[] ** greenhouse gas** if ur reading this its too late  Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation produced by solar warming of the Earth's surface. They include [|carbon dioxide] (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (NO 2 ), and [|water vapor]. Although greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, the elevated levels especially of carbon dioxide and methane that have been observed in recent decades are directly related, at least in part, to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and the deforestation of tropical forests. http://zfacts.com/metaPage/lib/Stoft_zFacts_2005_09_hurricane_global_warming.gif