It ’s set forth to getpretty lovesome outside . And it ’s also starting to get progressively obvious that human - made global heating is not going forth anytime soon . As our surroundings continues to degrade and collapse , we may be headed into some fairly do-or-die times — and with them , the inevitable call for desperate measures . Such out - of - the - box supposition has led to an increased interest ingeoengineeringand the fantastic opening of control the Earth ’s weather outright .
But do we know enough to fiddle with the climate without causing bigger problems ? Or are we potential to create more problems than we solve ?
Top image : Stewart Baird / Flickr .
effort to insure the weather condition have been a part of the human fabric since the first of prison term , stray fromNative American rainwater dancesup toChina ’s effort to prevent hurry during the 2008 Olympics . But now , as we direct deeper into the twenty-first 100 , and as the pressure to lot with mood change increases , some experts are hint that we demand to get serious and address the issue with some grander visions .
Geoengineers Will Prevent Rain Over Olympic Stadium in China
Those who think about such thing are n’t thinking small , and there ’s no shortage of ideas . Some notable geoengineering proposal includestratospheric particle injectionfor solar radiation sickness management , cirrus cloud seedingto reduce reflectivity , sulfur - aerosol injectionto rush world dimming , and more simple solutions liketropical reforestationto rejuvenate the C balance . We ’ve cover a phone number of thesegeoengineering strategiesat io9 , including an entire series onterraforming the Earth .
But perhaps the most innovative and wide - ranging proposal of all is the suggestion that we just go for the gusto and figure out a way to insure the Earth ’s weather condition all . And quite surprisingly , there ’s one very simple plan that could actually work out .
The Hall Weather Machine
Indeed , one of the more apparently viable strategy for achieving complete weather control has been put forward by nanotechnology expertJ. Storrs Hall , the source ofNanofuture : What ’s Next for Nanotechnology . We recently spoke to Hall about his idea to get a good sense of how it could put to work , and how such a thing could actually be built .
Hall ’s plan would see a flimsy global swarm of small transparent balloon lifted up to the stratosphere where it would shade or reflect the amount of sunlight that hits the upper stratosphere . “ Think of it as a kind of programmable and reversible greenhouse flatulency ” , he says .
Each balloon would be about a millimeter to one cm in size , likely a very thin cuticle ofdiamondoid materialabout a micromillimetre thickset . A mirror would be set inside the balloon , along with a small reckoner , a GPS receiver to keep track of its positioning , and an actuator to control its vertical and horizontal predilection . Each balloon would be filled with hydrogen and lifted up into the stratosphere where it would come to a rest at about 20 international mile above the Earth ’s aerofoil ( anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 feet ) .
Like any veritable high - altitude balloon , the heavier control and energy store systems would pull down on the balloon , supply an reflexive orientation for the perpendicular axis vertebra . Each balloon would also have a weewee vapor generator for EL control , giving it the same directing pilotage property that an average red-hot - line balloon has when it changes altitude . This is so each balloon could take reward of different wind directions at different altitudes .
To make the weather machine oeuvre , enough contemplative balloons would have to be create to track the entire Earth . Hall estimates that 10 million oodles of material would be required to rend off such a feat , but insists that it ’s not a problem ; the same amount of passel is required to fabricate 100 miles of freeway .
Once the Hall Weather Machine ( HWM ) is up and running , it would essentially serve as a programmable green house gas . When the mirrors face away from the Earth they would mull the sunlight back into space . When oriented sideways , the sunlight would be capable to come through while also allowing for the longwave irradiation to fly the coop . Carbon dioxide has a radiative force capacity of 1 Watt per straightforward meter . The HWM , on the other hand , has a 1 Kilowatt forcing capableness per hearty meter , which completely trumps any natural influence of that kind . In other words , this machine would be damn powerful .
In fact , all the system require to do is control a tenth of one percent of solar radiation to force global mood in any steering we want . One percent is enough to change regional mood , and ten percentage is enough for serious weather control . Subsequently , the implication to such things as remedial environmental science , global weather patterns , and overall geoengineering endeavors are profound , to say the least . By using the HWM we would not only be capable to potentially fix global thawing , we would also be able to preclude the next Ice Age .
“ The reason I call it a weather machine or else of a climate machine is that you could change the modulation on a regional or even local basis , and change it in minute , ” says Hall , “ You could cool Death Valley and warm up the Yukon – at the same meter . ” Because wind as well as water evaporation and rainout look on temperature design , he adds , we could powerfully affect the other component of weather condition as well .
Hall also believes that the conditions machine could be used to make large fate of the Earth more human - friendly . “ There is a immense portion of the Earth ’s surface that is only marginally habitable and could be made temperate with weather ascendance , ” he say .
While we do n’t have all the technology required to attract - off such a feat , Hall finger we should still get lead off right now and build up such thing as control software , conditions moulding , and anything along the pathway to nano - construct capability .
Hall has also devised a second edition of this machine that would still utilize balloons , but would instead contain an aerogel with switchable feeler unit . This would reserve for the transmission of radiation therapy in any desired oftenness or management . By doing this , the entire stratosphere would be converted into an tremendous hologram that could take light and interchange it into any desired wavelength and focalize it in any hope direction . This would give up for the near complete control over local weather .
Such a organisation would be a major planet - sized powered machine , powered by 100 petawatts of sun . With a transmitting field of 10,000 kilometer in diameter , and violet light for a electron beam , it would be able-bodied to carve graffiti on Phobos by focusing a petawatt beam on a 2.7 mm spot . “ In other words ” , say Hall , “ it ’s one hell of a worldwide defense against anything from contrary asteroid to occupy aliens . ”
Yet , the prognosis still shout for rain
Now , while the HWM may solve the orbicular warming crisis , it could also introduce an entirely newfangled band of trouble , some of which may be moderately catastrophic in nature .
Such a system could be easily weaponized and serve as a military engine that ’s 2d to none . As Hall observe , “ If you could hold the weather , you ’re pretty much in charge . ” And it ’s for this accurate reason that Hall is confident that his weather political machine , or some other random variable , will finally be built . And what ’s particularly alarming is that , in fiat for it to serve as a doomsday gadget , all that ’s required is 5 % coverage of the planet ’s surface . Hall anticipate that the organisation will be extremely politicized , with countries contend for weather control vote . There may also be several competing cloud up in the stratosphere , command some serious coordination and negotiation among the developers .
And it ’s not just Hall who is concerned about the potential misuse of this technology . NanotechnologistTihamer Toth - Fejelalso sees the potential drop for catastrophe . Hecontendsthat manage the social and environmental logical implication of such a control system could prove to be tricky , if not completely indefensible . The weather machine could prove to be a calamity , he says , either through misuse , ill-treatment , or just unornamented ignorance .
Toth - Fejel feels that there are a issue of broad orbit in which the HWM could essay problematic . It could result in severe and unpredictable consequences , or it could be a complete waste material of time and resource when efforts could be well spend elsewhere . Moreover , it would be near unsufferable to achieve consensus from an international linear perspective on how it should be used . In summation , it could be used as a weapon of aggregate inconvenience – a mean of unjust coercion by ready possible the scourge of bad weather condition . It could also have a long lasting and detrimental effect on human fictitious character if the weather is pleasant every day .
And of line , there ’s also the possibility for war . Rival nations may work to hold in or undermine their enemy ’s weather control cloud . Worse , some nations may habituate it to play dreaded damage against the enemy . Toth - Fejel warn that the globose coordination of the pondering weather condition machine would allow for the reverberate of concentrated solar energy around the world , making it possible to ready cities on fire – the type of fire due to drop a nuclear bomb per second for as long as desired . As Toth - Fejel warns , “ The potential difference for misuse is rather large . ” The temptation to weaponize such a gimmick may be overwhelming . The whole undertaking could start various weaponry races , including sweat to bring the entire organization down .
On this decimal point , Hall believe that any country that tries to establish such a machine would promptly have it stump out by existing superpowers . It ’s for this reason that he feel the United States is the only body politic with the technology and backup power to make such a thing . Consequently , he does n’t see it as something that would change the balance of geopolitics too much .
To build or not to build
The weather is a highly complicated and multifaceted thing . Should the weather auto be build , and in order for the integral global system to work in an ecologically well-disposed sort of manner , some realm are still going to have to suffer through inclement weather , include monsoons , hurricanes , and vicious cold snapshot . Given the presence of weather political machine , some countries may be less than thrilled to have to continue to deal with these realness . They may feel neglect , malign or even subjugated .
Such are the problems of newfound control .
We ’re still a few tenner away from being able to fabricate the Hall Weather Machine , but it ’s important that we talk about it and other viable solutions now . Should mood alteration prove to be as ruinous as some environmentalists arrogate , and should its effects start to get fairly out of control ( not that it ’s very much in control mighty now ) , we may have no choice but to put this organization up in the stratosphere . What needs to happen in the occur years , therefore , is a thoughtful discourse of not just the viability of such a gadget , but discourse on how we could ever desire to assure and manage such a affair given all the interests at stake . Or best yet , we should figure out how to address the climate crisis now without receive to recur to such radical and potentially dangerous measures .
But as Hall and Toth - Fejel note , some countries or groups may still choose to build it one-sidedly , in which case there ’s going to be some serious problems . The weather condition machine , it would seem , may premise some entirely raw kinds of storm .
Hall Weather Machine simulacrum via Nanotechnology Now .
clime changeFuturismGlobal warmingSHUTTERSTOCK
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