What Bush should have done about Katrina (non-PC)

[jhetley]

It finally came to me, lolling around in bed this morning. Before coffee, of course, so I don't expect the idea to stand up under sober investigation. But what should W have done?

Nuked the eyewall. Might take more than one bomb, of course, hurricanes pack a lot of energy and you'd have to disrupt the circulation.

But what's the point of having a squad of "Hurricane Hunters" if you never give them a chance to _shoot?_

(And the cleanup would have been cheaper.)

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I've seen the calculations for this trick, and it requires a lot more than one bomb. There's also this little problem with superheated radioactive steam...

I'm given to understand the idea actually was seriously considered back in the 50's, when H-bombs were new and bright and shiny things. Never implemented, as far as anyone knows.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

The main difficulty with using explosives to modify hurricanes is the amount of energy required. A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x10^13 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 10^13 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Gilligan's Island and the giant carrots? Back in the 50s when nuclear was fun!

[98.livejournal.com]

So the thing to do would be to build a huge fleet of wind-mill ships kept shuttling between storage battery central and tropical storms before they can grow into hurricanes. 8) I can't decide if I am joking or serious but I suspect the scale of the thing again dooms this notion.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Hey, I said it'd take more than one. And I also said the thought germinated before coffee...

But at least it would have been something within Bush's job description, as opposed to drafting detailed disaster plans for every city in the USA. I'd prefer that responsibility to be handled (NOT shirked) on a local level. More likely to work, that way.