Posted on 07/18/2009 5:27:29 PM PDT by 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
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
He can stop them with the Blue Screen of Death on PC screens.
Throw copies of Vista into the eye.
Tubes that suck . . . the jokes write themselves.
And some of these scientists can turn lead into gold!
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.
If that ever happened, Obambi would throw Gates (both Bill and Bob, actually) in jail for treason to Communism.
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.
My money is on Mother Earth being way too big for us to change her mind about weather and environment. We'll see!
how can the worlds richest man be the stupidest!?!?!?!
If Bush and Cheney and Rove couldn't accomplish that in eight years, nobody ever will.
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.
He should worry about Hurricane Google that’s headed his way.
I just love it when people have more money than brains.
I hate it when they won’t give the money to me.
:-(
This has gotta be sarcasm.
How on Earth will they ever be able to prove they effected a change?
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.
Abort...
Retry....
FAIL!!!
Another leftie that claims to be God....
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