Bill Gates in bid to tame hurricanes

The Times ^ | 7/19/2009 | Tony Allen-Mills

[bruinbirdman]

The world’s richest man has joined the battle against the world’s most destructive weather. Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is backing inventors and climate scientists who claim to have devised a technique for diminishing the power of hurricanes.

Gates was named last week among a group of weather experts who have applied for patents on a system for lowering ocean temperatures. Using a fleet of barges equipped with pumps, Gates and his team believe a hurricane can be slowed by cooling the tropical waters that fuel its progress.

American scientists agreed last week that the system was theoretically feasible but several noted that its backers had yet to prove it could be managed on a scale that would have any serious effect.

“Is it plausible? Yes,” said Frank Marks, director of hurricane research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Is it possible? Maybe. Realistic? I just can’t answer that.”

The plan calls for a line of barges to be scattered along the coastline of the United States, ready to be deployed in a hurricane’s path. Each barge would have a pair of tubes that thrust warmer surface waters to cooler depths while sucking up colder water.

Hurricanes gain momentum from the heat energy released by warm, humid air evaporating on the water’s surface, so the idea is that the hurricane’s force would be reduced.

“The bottom line here is that if enough pumps are deployed it is reasonable to expect some diminution of hurricane power,” said Kerry Emanuel, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He estimated that a hurricane might be stopped in its tracks if the ocean could be cooled by 4.5C.

As the world’s most successful entrepreneur, with the world’s biggest private fortune, Gates is no stranger to daunting challenges. The $35

[Kitanis]

He can stop them with the Blue Screen of Death on PC screens.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Throw copies of Vista into the eye.

[Jeff Chandler]

tubes that thrust warmer surface waters to cooler depths while sucking up colder water.

Tubes that suck . . . the jokes write themselves.

[jimfree]

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is backing inventors and climate scientists who claim to have devised a technique for diminishing the power of hurricanes.

And some of these scientists can turn lead into gold!

[goldfinch]

If it works, we will have learned something important. If it doesn’t work, we have eliminated one theory of how to control hurricanes. As long as Bill Gates, and NOT the American taxpayer, is paying for this, I am for it.

[rfp1234]

What if the system works and he succeeds in deflecting a Florida-bound hurricane towards Cuba?” asked one Miami scientist. “Would that be seen as an act of war?”

If that ever happened, Obambi would throw Gates (both Bill and Bob, actually) in jail for treason to Communism.

[w1andsodidwe]

For god sake, don’t mess with the weather. After all the earth is so delicately balanced that adding a little CO2 to the atmosphere is going to cause us all to die. What is the purpose of making hurricanes tamer, so something else will kill us? I just wish they would all get together and use the same talking points, my head is reeling.

[jwparkerjr]

This could have a serendipitous side effect. Rush has long contended that Man takes himself way too seriously when he thinks he can materially affect the environment. It would seem the amount of energy that would have to be dissipated to reduce a hurricane enough to make a difference would be far, far greater than man could do with a series of barges. This project might prove once and for all if Rush is right. If they can't change a single hurricane then it should be proof positive that we can't emit enough stuff to change the environment of the entire Earth. OTOH, they have any measure of success then maybe the global warming people are on to something.

My money is on Mother Earth being way too big for us to change her mind about weather and environment. We'll see!

[remaxagnt]

how can the worlds richest man be the stupidest!?!?!?!

[rfp1234]

What if the system works and he succeeds in deflecting a Florida-bound hurricane towards Cuba?” asked one Miami scientist. “Would that be seen as an act of war?”

If Bush and Cheney and Rove couldn't accomplish that in eight years, nobody ever will.

[LukeL]

Assuming this is even possible, what will it do to the wildlife, especially the plankton and diatoms that float on the surface and are a huge source of food for countless marine animals.

[GSP.FAN]

King Bill Canute?

[libh8er]

He should worry about Hurricane Google that’s headed his way.

[DustyMoment]

I just love it when people have more money than brains.

I hate it when they won’t give the money to me.

:-(

[shove_it]

This has gotta be sarcasm.

[sionnsar]

If they can't change a single hurricane

How on Earth will they ever be able to prove they effected a change?

[BobL]

I think that we all have to admit that Mr. Gate’s idea makes a LOT MORE sense than forcing Americans to drive Yugos.

I like it because it’s a counter-measure, where you’re fighting the hurricane head on, instead of hiding behind long-term climate models.

Similar countermeasures have been proposed to stop global warming, such as reflecting sunlight back to space. That is what should be done (if anything), rather than drive this country into the stone age.

[bigbob]

Abort...

Retry....

FAIL!!!

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Another leftie that claims to be God....

[sionnsar]

how can the worlds richest man be the stupidest!?!?!?!

Idiot savants excel in one thing while failing at many others.

[elpadre]

don’t mess with Mother Nature cause Daddy will get mad

[madamemayhem]

let me know when bill and company get their gear in place so i can start rooting for the hurricanes.

[Arthur McGowan]

An absolutely idiotic idea. Has Gates ever bothered to look at a satellite photo of a hurricane?

They’re BIG.

Also, if hurricanes are not permitted to dissipate the heat of the tropics into higher latitudes, has anybody considered how many millions of people in the tropics will die?

[samtheman]

Why not just buy Karl Rove’s Hurricane Machine and modify it with a Low Power setting?

[BobL]

“The $35 billion (£21 billion) charitable foundation he set up with his wife, Melinda, is also trying to eradicate polio and malaria in the Third World.”

Not sure about polio, but anyone with a first-grade education knows that DDT will take care of malaria, for practically no cost. It’s just a question of whether the LIBERALS will want all those extra people to live.

[shove_it]

This is pretty funny.

[Arthur McGowan]

That will be supplied by the same guy who knows how many jobs Soetoro has “saved.”

[sionnsar]

Similar countermeasures have been proposed to stop global warming, such as reflecting sunlight back to space. That is what should be done (if anything), rather than drive this country into the stone age.

Thanks a lot. We had WAY more snow last winter than I've ever seen in the PNW and you want us to have more.

Crazy Eddie

[xjcsa]

...of course, dumping that much warm surface water at a deeper level won’t have any effect on anything down there...

[guitarplayer1953]

And all the little fishies too, those basters!

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

The expression “pissing in the ocean” comes to mind, for several reasons.

[Arthur McGowan]

If Gates ever managed to cool the ocean enough to kill a hurricane, he’ll succeed in shutting off the Gulf Stream. Where will the refugees from Western Europe go?

[Outlaw Woman]

“how can the worlds richest man be the stupidest!?!?!?!”

he’s an atheist

[PghBaldy]

Hey! What about the Boxing Day Tsunami? They killed tons of Muslims with that one.

[Hot Tabasco]

This project might prove once and for all if Rush is right

It won't prove anything, they'll ignore the facts and just move on to some other equally stupid, money grabbing eco-loving idea...........

You're right, don't mess with mother nature.....

[Squantos]

New version of an off shore tax shelter.....

[marron]

Its called concrete and rebar. Thats how you tame them.

Stick-built homes in a flood plain are snacks for hurricanes.

[mc5cents]

Isn’t this the same guy that said that 64K should be enough memory for anyone? That guy?

[jwparkerjr]

We need to dig up the 70’s commercial for the fake butter spread that tried to fool Mother Nature. The kicker was “It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!” Do you remember those?

[Hot Tabasco]

This could have a serendipitous side effect.

A while ago I saw on TV a clip about a project that was in the planning stages to kill ocean plankton in a given sector in order to reduce the amount of CO2 it produces.

I thought to myself what the heck are they doing and what if the experiment accelerates beyond their control?

[sonofstrangelove]

I agree. I think Bill’s ego may cause problems with the weather.

[jwparkerjr]

Good question. What if it storm actually intensifies as it moves over the man-cooled waters? Those things are so unpredictable that I would be afraid to make move against one for fear of it doing what it was going to do anyway and I would get blamed for it. That's my kind of luck.

[noblejones]

Dumb. The volume you’d have to alter would be staggering and the equipment would have to be suicidally close to the storm to even have a chance. Even then it’d likely not have any effect. And how much marine life would be destroyed?

[Wuli]

Hurricanes are a natural part of earth’s weather system.

In spite of their destructive power it is completely irrational to believe that there would be zero unforeseen consequences, and irrational to believe there would be zero adverse consequences by artificially “taming” them.

Question, why do the once brilliant super successful ones (like Gates and Ted Turner) turn into fools as they get older?

[Jean S]

I think he should also finance research into devices to attach to cows to capture their farts.

[TheBattman]

that adding a little CO2 to the atmosphere is going to cause us all to die.

Yeah!!! After all, we just need to ignore the geological record that shows that CO2 levels have been far higher in history - long before man's population or know-how generated any significant CO2 load... Or the fact that the times of increased global temps, mankind flourished... and the fact that dramatic global temperature peaks and valleys happened long ago...

[sonofstrangelove]

Question, why do the once brilliant super successful ones (like Gates and Ted Turner) turn into fools as they get older?

He thinks that since he conquered one field that he is God. Its called a God complex.

[fso301]

Unless Bill Gates has invested in the barge building business, why not just seed the clouds?

[sonofstrangelove]

I am wondering has he tested this idea in a laboratory.