According to japan's "Asahi Shimbun" website reported on September 27, weakening the power of a strong typhoon or using its energy may soon cease to be the plot of a science fiction novel or a Hollywood disaster movie. Scientists have set out to find ways to achieve typhoon control by 2050.
Typhoons are gaining momentum due to global warming. Scientists hope to blunt the enormous energy of these tropical storms and mitigate the damage they cause.
Some meteorologists on the project even dream of using typhoons to generate electricity, as it is believed to have the equivalent of a month's electricity consumption worldwide.
This undertaking was named the "Shooting Wind" project, which was derived from the English word "shooting moon". "Moon shooting" is often used to refer to a difficult but highly rewarding undertaking, such as lunar exploration. Last year, several entities, including several Universities in Japan and a manufacturer, set up the program.
"Japan is always affected by typhoons, but if we can apply new technologies and research results, then weakening the power of typhoons and converting their energy into useful resources will no longer be a pipe dream," said Hiromitoku Biho, a professor of meteorology at Yokohama National University. Hiromitsu Biho was the leader of the "Shooting Wind" project team.
The waters of the Northwest Pacific Basin, including those around Japan, are very hot, making it one of the most frequent typhoons in the world, and typhoons here tend to be very powerful.
Typhoon No. 19 of 2019 — known internationally as "Haibeisi" — killed more than 100 people, with most of its victims living in eastern Japan, including Fukushima Prefecture.
An analysis by the Japan Meteorological Agency's Institute of Meteorology and another agency shows that if atmospheric and sea temperatures had not risen over the past 40 years, Typhoon No. 19 would have reduced rainfall by about 10 percent in the kanto-related areas.
Attempts at artificial console winds are not new.
Prior to 1970, the United States had several experiments with throwing silver iodide at hurricanes, hoping that spreading the chemical would change the shape of hurricanes and weaken them. Silver iodide promotes cloudification of rain.
Despite reports that spreading silver iodide reduced hurricane wind speeds by 10 to 30 percent, the possibility of the hurricane weakening on its own could not be ruled out, and the study ultimately lost momentum.
Biho said he believes that half a century later, the time is ripe to try again. One of the factors he cites is advances in supercomputer simulation technology.
The accuracy of typhoon path forecasts has been greatly improved, allowing the effects of human interventions to be rigorously assessed. Reduced wind and rainfall reduce damage, and it becomes easier to simulate how much damage is reduced.
Scientists on the project team came up with the idea of throwing large amounts of ice from the plane toward the eye of the typhoon as a cooling measure. The heat released when water vapor from warm oceans condenses into clouds powers typhoons. Therefore, lowering its temperature weakens its strength.
However, Bipao said that this measure requires the use of a lot of ice, so more effective alternatives, such as dry ice, should be considered.
In addition to simulation techniques, measurements of the relevant impacts are also very important.
A group of researchers at Nagoya University and other institutions are conducting a rare study: getting planes to fly into typhoons and perform measurement activities inside the eye of the wind.
They entered the eye of the wind two days before Typhoon 21 ("Lane") made landfall in Japan in 2017 and a day before, and found that the actual air pressure there was more than 1,000 pa lower than the Japan Meteorological Agency estimated based on satellite imagery and other information.
Kazuhisa Hiraki, a professor of meteorology at Nagoya University, said: "The direct measurements ultimately revealed what the typhoon actually looked like. ”
The "Shoot Wind" project also reportedly aims to find ways to partially harness the typhoon's enormous energy. The project includes a plan to develop unmanned sailing boats that use the typhoon's powerful winds to automatically follow the typhoon and generate electricity through the rotation of the underwater propeller. The electricity generated will be sent ashore.
However, artificial console wind may instead increase its local intensity or cause damage to areas that are not affected without human intervention.
"As we try to weaken the typhoon intensity, we will pay special attention to side effects," Biho said. ”
Source: Reference News Network