17/08/2010
Predictions revisited and Climate Change: News and Comments
Guided hurricanes
When speculating four decades ago about the military uses of geophysics, Gordon J.F. MacDonald of UCLA contemplated the triggering of earthquakes or tsunamis, or melting polar ice with nuclear weapons. And he didn’t overlook the idea of steering hurricanes to ravage the enemy’s coasts. Reminding me of that prediction is a report now in press in Geophysical Research Letters, about how natural variations in the colour of the sea help to guide cyclones in the Pacific. A cyclone, remember, is a loosely used generic term that includes the major storms called hurricanes (Atlantic), typhoons (Pacific) or tropical cyclones (Indian Ocean and Australia).
Contributing to Unless Peace Comes, (1968), in a chapter entitled “How to Wreck the Environment”, MacDonald wrote:
… preliminary experiments have been carried out on the seeding of hurricanes. The dynamics of hurricanes and the mechanism by which energy is transferred from the ocean into the atmosphere supporting the hurricane are poorly understood. Yet various schemes for both dissipation and steering can be imagined. Although hurricanes originate in tropical regions, they can travel into temperate latitudes, as the residents of New England know only too well. A controlled hurricane could be used as a weapon to terrorize opponents over substantial parts of the populated world.
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2) PREDICTIONS REVISITED, 3a) News and Comments, Uncategorized | Tagged: AGU, Alec Nisbett, Anand Gnanadesikan, atmospheric circulation, “The Weather Machine”, biogeochemical cycling, bioproductivity, carbon dioxide, chlorophyll, cloud seeding, cyclones, El Niño, Geophysical Research Letters, Gordon J.F. MacDonald, Guided hurricanes, hurricanes, La Niña, Michael Berhrenfeld, micro-algae, military geophysics, MIT, monomolecular films, Nature magazine, New Scientist, Nigel Calder, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NPP, ocean colour, ocean nutrients, Oregon State University, permanently stratified oceans, Project Stormfury, rainfall, Roger Revelle, Scripps Institution of Oceanography., sea surface temperature, seeding of hurricanes, solar energy, SST, steering hurricanes, suppressing hurricanes, teleconnections, The World in 1984, tropical cyclones, typhoons, UCLA, Unless Peace Comes | 
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Posted by calderup
09/08/2010
Falsification tests of climate hypotheses
Cosmic rays and clouds at various latitudes
An exchange with Prof. Terry Sloan of Lancaster University
I’m promoting to the start of a new post a comment on an earlier post that came from Terry Sloan, together with my reply and his comment on my reply. I’ve included a graph that he sent in an e-mail because it wouldn’t upload into the Comments section.
After that, the discussion continues here with further remarks from me.
Sloan is one of the severest critics of the Svensmark hypothesis that cosmic rays influence the Earth’s low clouds. The earlier post, entitled “Do clouds disappear when cosmic rays get weaker?”, was concerned chiefly with whether or not sudden changes called Forbush decreases have observable effects on cloud cover. You can see that post in full here: https://calderup.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/do-clouds-disappear/
But the present interaction with Sloan mainly concerns a different question, about the influence of the Earth’s magnetic field. To help readers to get quickly up to speed, here’s the most relevant extract from my original post:
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6 Comments | 3c) Falsification tests | Tagged: .B-29 bomber, Advances in Space Research, Ahluwalia, Amato T. Evan, Andrew K. Heidinger, Arnold Wolfendale, ATMOCOSMICS, Balloon experiment, Biehl, clouds, cosmic rays, cosmic-ray physics, Daniel J. Vimont, Earth's magnetic field, falsification tests, Forbush decreases, Frank Arnold, gamma rays, GEANT4 simulation, Geophysical Research Letters, Henrik Svensmark, International Journal of Modern Physics A, ISCCP, Karlsruhe Institut für Kernphysik, L. Desorgher et al., Laken, Lancaster University, latitude effect, Lebedev Physical Institute, muons, NASA Astrophysics Data System, Neher and Roesch, neutron monitors, Nigel Calder, Nigel Marsh, ocean liners, P.I.Y. Velinov et al., Physical Review, Physical Review Letters, pi-zero decay, power law, R.A. Millikan & H.V. Neher, sigmoid curve, soft component, Solar Cycle 22, Solar Cycle 23, Svensmark hypothesis, Terry Sloan, The Chilling Stars. CORSIKA program, unshielded detectors, Wolfendale and Kniveton | Permalink
Posted by calderup
I’m promoting to the start of a new post a comment on an earlier post that came from Terry Sloan, together with my reply and his comment on my reply. I’ve included a graph that he sent in an e-mail because it wouldn’t upload into the Comments section. 
Calder's Updates 
Guided hurricanes
17/08/2010Predictions revisited and Climate Change: News and Comments
Guided hurricanes
Contributing to Unless Peace Comes, (1968), in a chapter entitled “How to Wreck the Environment”, MacDonald wrote:
… preliminary experiments have been carried out on the seeding of hurricanes. The dynamics of hurricanes and the mechanism by which energy is transferred from the ocean into the atmosphere supporting the hurricane are poorly understood. Yet various schemes for both dissipation and steering can be imagined. Although hurricanes originate in tropical regions, they can travel into temperate latitudes, as the residents of New England know only too well. A controlled hurricane could be used as a weapon to terrorize opponents over substantial parts of the populated world.
Read the rest of this entry »