Weather control

Weather control is the act of manipulating or altering certain aspects of the environment to produce desirable changes in weather.

History of weather control

Some American Indians had rituals which they believed could induce rain. The Finnish people, on the other hand, were believed by others to be able to control all weather. Thus Vikings refused to take Finns on their raids by sea. Remnants of this belief lasted well into the modern age, with many ship crews being reluctant to accept Finnish sailors.

The early modern era saw people observe that during battles the firing of cannons and other firearms often initiated precipitation. The first example of practical weather control is the lightning rod.

Project Stormfury was an attempt to weaken tropical cyclones by flying aircraft into storms and seeding the eyewall with silver iodide. The project was run by the United States Government from 1962 to 1983.

Cloud seeding is used in several different countries, including the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Russia. In the People's Republic of China there is actually a perceived dependency upon it in dry regions, which believe they are actually increasing annual rainfall by firing silver iodide rockets into the sky where rain is desired.

In the United States, dry ice or silver iodide may be injected into a cloud by aircraft, or even from the ground, in an attempt to increase rainfall; there are even companies dedicated to this form of weather modification.

Cloud seeding is also used in other areas.

Weather control, as well as "weather tampering", is expressly forbidden dating from at least December 10, 1976, when the "United Nations General Assembly Resolution 31/72, TIAS 9614 Convention (http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/enmod/text/environ2.htm) on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques" was adopted.

The Convention was: Signed in Geneva May 18, 1977; Entered into force October 5, 1978; Ratification by U.S. President December 13, 1979; U.S. ratification deposited at New York January 17, 1980.

A bill to establish a Weather Modification Operations and Research Board, and for other purposes, was introduced on the floor of the United States Senate on March 3 2005, by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Because of an actual, natural weather phenomenon, the Gateway Arch has been claimed to be a secret weather-control device^*. When storms approach the host city St. Louis, Missouri, they sometimes "split", moving around the downtown area. This is probably because, unlike most cities, St. Louis is relatively tall and narrow, on an unusually flat area, and inside a Y between two very large rivers, therefore the wind of the storm accelerates over and around the obstruction of the city, taking some portion of the clouds and rain with it. The premise of the "artificial" splitting of the storm is that a large negative electromagnetic charge is built up in the city, using the Arch as a transmitter. If this were possible, its negative charge might actually repel that of a thunderstorm, though there is no evidence that this is actually the case.

Wilhelm Reich performed cloudbusting experiments in the 1950s to 1960s but the results of which are controversial.

Current operations

HIPAS has several diverse experimental facilities: a 1-megawatt rf transmitter to produce ELF/VLF (Extremely Low Frequency and Very Low Frequency) electromagnetic (EM) generation by the absorption of radio frequency (rf) power in the arctic ionosphere including ion cyclotron excitation; a 100 kW rf plasma torch used in research on the destruction of hazardous waste; a 2.7 m liquid mirror telescope used with one of several lasers for ionospheric stimulation and measurement; an Incoherent Scatter Radar (a new project using 88 ft. diameter antenna at NOAA Gilmore Creek site 34 km SW of HIPAS as the receiving antenna with the transmitter at HIPAS). We are in the process of adding a very high power (terawatt) laser (recently obtained from LLNL) to perform laser breakdown experiments in the ionosphere. Two Diesel electric generators (1500 HP 4160 V, 3-phase, 1.2 MVA each) are used to power the experiments. There are a number of computers (PC's ) on site, and a high-speed data line to UAF is available.

Modern aspirations

There are two factors which make weather control extremely difficult if not fundamentally unattainable. The first is the immense quantity of energy contained in the atmosphere. The second is its turbulence.

Cloud seeding has a mixed history of successes and failures. Critics generally contend that claimed successes occur in conditions which were going to rain anyway.

Conspiracy theorists have suggested that governments use weather control as a weapon (eg via HAARP and/or chemtrails). Although this has not been proven, U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen gave credence to the idea at a counterterrorism conference in 1997. ^*

Ideas to consider for the future

Because this technology hypothetically would allow scheduling and directing weather changes, it would affect the ecosystem and the behaviour of residing organisms. Considering that, its introduction would mandate new legislation to avoid any misuse, abuse and mishandling.

The extent of ecological repercussions following misuse falls within the operating area of such technology. If the area affected were small, the consequences could possibly be repaired. If the affected area were neither especially large nor especially small, substantial changes to it could be passed down to the rest of the ecosystem. If the affected area were large, the devastating results would likely affect the whole ecosystem, possibly making the planet uninhabitable for a very long time.

After such an event, it would be very difficult or impossible to regain the previous state of affairs. Regaining natural balance usually takes time. If help, possibly in the form of even more advanced technology, comes quickly, then regaining a balance similar to the former could be possible.

If this came to pass, the ecosystem as a whole would be affected forever. Some speculate that:
- The planet would be uninhabitable to humans, at least temporarily.
- The ecosystem could revert to a pre-disaster state, eventually making habitation possible again.
- The ecosystem might move in a random direction. The surviving lifeforms unable to adapt quickly enough would die out; those more nimble in adaptation or evolution might thrive.
- In some isolated enclaves, previous species that were able to survive would continue to exist, albeit as a minority.

In fiction

In fiction, weather control technology can be encountered in the realm of science fiction, fantasy and alternative realities. The concept of weather control is often a part of terraforming.

Film and television

Star Trek

In the Star Trek universe, most advanced planets and colonies utilise weather control. A small, but long-established TNG-era (ca 2369) colony a weather control facility for approximately hundred years. Most advanced civilizations apparently employ weather control standard equipment either within the hull or as separate machines for utilization on the ground.

Weather control technology in 2270s required special facilities, modern TNG- and DS9-era technology consists of multiple mid-size devices positioned strategically, networked and controlled from more-or-less arbitrary places.

For example, the planet Risa has its climate controlled to be a tropical paradise. Perhaps one of the few modern exceptions of planets apparently without weather control technology is Ferenginar with continuous rain. (It could be the weather control is set for never ending rain.)

Other films

In Aliens, a colony sent to LV-426 by the Company utilized a fusion-powered terraforming atmosphere processor. In Alien, the planet's climate was not yet suitable for human life.

Storm, a member of the comic book team the X-Men, can control the weather.

In Back to the Future Part II, weather control is possible by the year 2015.

In the film The Avengers (film) Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery) creates a satellite capable of controlling the weather.

Our Man Flint is a 1966 sci-fi action film which stars James Coburn as Derek Flint where a trio of mad scientists attempt to blackmail the world with a weather-control machine.

Computer games

In the Master Of Orion, it is possible to build a weather control building to change the planet's environment.

In Red Alert 2, the Allies can build the weather control device superweapon, and direct thunderstorms to strike a selected location of the map every 10 game minutes.

In the forthcoming game Spore by Will Wright, players will be able to use a spacecraft to modify planetary atmospheres - creating volcanoes to generate carbon dioxide, seeding plant life to create breathable air, or even using a "Genesis Device" to make a planet habitable in one go.

Prose

Ben Bova's The Weathermakers is the story of a government agency that controls the weather.

Sydney Sheldon's "Are You Afraid of the Dark" is the story of a think tank that builds technology powerful enough to create hurricanes, tornados, and tsunamis.

In Michael Crichton's "State of Fear," ecoterrorists plan to create a tsunami, calve an iceberg, and induce flash flooding and hurricanes.

In Lois Lowry's "The Giver," the government controls the weather and keeps it from snowing, and confine rain to the farmland.

In the book series Weather Warden by Rachel Caine, the Wardens are an association of people who control the elements - earth, fire and weather. They manipulate the weather to stop hurricanes and tornados destroying the world. The weather is manipulated throughout all 4 books, based in the United States, and a massive hurricane flattens Florida in the latest book.

Music

cloudbusting by Kate Bush

Other fictional weather controllers

DC Comics villain Weather Wizard could control the weather with a special kind of technology in the shape of a wand.

Marvel Comics heroes Thor and Storm could control weather; the former because he is the Norse god of thunder, the latter because she is a mutant whose powers specifically center around weather control.

Digimon character Wizardmon could manipulate thunderstorms.

When the muppet Count von Count of Sesame Street laughs, it often invokes thunder.

In some of the Asterix comics, when the village bard Cacofonix sings, it starts to rain.

External links

Golden Dome construction Hundreds of advanced practitioners of Transcendental Meditation put their attention on favorable weather conditions during construction of the Golden Dome during the winter of 1980.

The Testimony of Dr. Tom DeFelice (Past President, Weather Modification Association) in support of Weather Modification Operations and Research Board

109th Congress S. 517: Weather Modification Research and Technology Transfer Authorization Act of 2005

Article Montana restricts spraying to a window of months and requires materials and employee lists

US Navy Some work is done by The United States Navy using ELF: Simulations of ELF radiation generated by heating the high-latitude D- region. (This work is supported by the Office of Naval Research and, in part, by a grant of HPC time from the DoD High Performance Computing Center at the Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground)