DESCRIPTION
1.0 Introduction
Over the past two centuries, tropical cyclones have killed about 2 million people
worldwide. Strong winds, heavy rainfall, floods, lightning and surge cause collapse of
houses, bridges, dams, and other infrastructure and so it causes large number of deaths
and huge damages. The storm surge and winds are destructive to man-made structures.
The crops are destroyed cause huge losses in all sectors of economy. Large areas of
standing water due to sea water flooding lead to high salinity of soil, infections in living
organism and mosquito-borne diseases. Heavily crowded evacuees in shelters increase
the risk of disease propagation. Tropical cyclones destroy infrastructure, power supplies,
and communication systems and thus hamper reconstruction and relief operations.
*
LHl 0:9.-88-2017 17:10
ArtropieaH:yclone4s=a=rapid^
closed low level air circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms,
as shown in Fig. 1. It produces heavy rains over a large region. A severe tropical cyclone
is called hurricane in Atlantic and North East Pacific, typhoon in North West Pacific and
cyclone in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
r„-pT^; . „ >.:^^. -.. ._
Fig 1: Satellite Image of a Cyclone
CD
G)
Q.
CD
CN
E
o
LL
CN
m
CN
CO
CN
o
o
CN
CN
CO ooO
o
CNT
Tropical cyclones form over large bodies of warm water. They derive their energy
through the evaporation from ocean. The tropical cyclones rarely form within 5° of the
equator. Tropical cyclone's size is typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter.
Winds blow counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the
Southern Hemisphere. In addition to strong winds and rains, tropical cyclones usually
generate high sea waves, surge, and tornadoes. The cyclones weaken on moving over
land where they are cut off of moisture supply.
Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere, the lower 10-12 kms of
atmosphere, with the largest pressure drops near the sea surface/ground. The temperature
near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes.
o
The near-surface wind field of a tropical cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly
around a center and also flowing spirally inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may
be nearly calm. At an inner radius, air ascends to the top of the troposphere. The wind
field often exhibits spatial and temporal variability due to localized processes, such as
thunder and horizontal flow instabilities. At the center of a mature cyclone, air sinks
rather than it rises. For a sufficiently strong storm, air may sink deep enough to suppress
clouds, forming an eye. The eye is normally circular in shape, and is 30-65 km in
diameter. Eyes of 3 - 370 km diameter have also been seen.
Size plays an important role in damage caused by a storm. A larger storm will impact a
larger area for a longer time. Additionally, a larger near-surface wind field can generate
higher storm surge due to longer wind fetch, longer duration, and enhanced wave setup
[8]. The passage of a tropical cyclone over the ocean causes the upper layers of the ocean
to cool by churning of ocean and by mixing with cold rain water. This reduces chance of
subsequent formation of cyclone on the same path till the ocean warms up again.
The storm surge causes floods and makes salt to enter the soil and freshwater areas. It
raises the salinity to too high levels for some habitats.to withstand. Because of this, some
species of plants and vegetation die. In addition, cyclones can carry toxins onto shore.
The floods can pick up the toxins from spills and contaminate land it passes over. Also as
in case of floods, the garbage dumps are washed and the wastes join the water stream.
Cyclones are important in the precipitation regimes as they may bring rains to drought
affected/ dry regions. All the water resources get recharged. Tropical cyclones can relieve
drought conditions. Though the floods cause lot of damages due to soil nutrients loss, the
rain cause huge quantities of nitrogen enter the soil. Tropical cyclones help to maintain
the global heat balance by moving warm, moist tropical air to the mid latitudes and polar
region, and regulate the thermohaline circulation through upwelling. but they stir up the
waters of coastal region, which are important for fish habitats.
2.0 Some Records related to Cyclones
The cyclone Bhola in Bangladesh on Nov 13, 1970 is the deadliest tropical cyclone on
record [4], believed to have killed about 1 million people. Its surge was responsible for
LHI- 8 9 ~ 0 : 8 - 2 8 1 ? IT : 1 8 -
3
the high death toll. Typhoon Nina in China in 1975 killed nearly 100,000 due to floods.
Hurricane Katrina is estimated the costliest cyclone caused $81.2 billion property damage
with overall damage exceeding $100 billion. Katrina killed 1836 people in Aug 2005.
The most intense storm on record was Typhoon Tip in the north-western Pacific in 1979,
which reached a minimum pressure of 870 hpa and maximum sustained wind 165 knots
[1], [3]. The highest maximum sustained wind ever recorded was 185 knots in Hurricane
Patricia in 2015. A surface-level gust caused by Typhoon Paka 1997 was 205 knots, but
the reading was discarded as the anemometer was damaged by the storm. Tip was the
largest cyclone, with tropical storm force winds 2,170 kilometres in diameter. The
smallest tropical storm on record, Marco, in Oct 2008, in Veracruz, had storm-force
.winds only 37 kms in diameter. John is the longest lasting storm, continued for 31 days in
1994. John is also the longest tracked cyclone, which had a path of 13,280 km. Cyclone
Rewa had one of the longest tracks observed within the Southern Hemisphere, travelling
a distance of over 8,920 km during Dec 1993 and Jan 1994.
Orissa Super Cyclone on 29 October, 1999 had estimated maximum wind speed 260-270
kmph in the core area which produced a huge storm surge that led to sea-level elevation
of more than 20 feet and killed more than 10,000 people [12]. Alongside the human
casualties^ there were about 440,000 livestock deaths, almost two million houses
damaged and over 1.8 million hectares of crops damaged. There were exceptionally
heavy rains caused devastating floods.
3.0 Conditions for Cyclone Formation
Following six conditions appear to be necessary for tropical cyclones formation [6], [13] :
• Sea surface temperatures (SST) above 26.5 °C for 60 meter depth
• Rapid cooling with height for release of heat of condensation
• High humidity in the lower and mid troposphere
• Low wind shear
• At least 5 degrees of latitude away from the equator
• Presence of a vortex
L H i 0 * 9 - 0 8 - 2 8 1 7 17 : I &
4
If any of the above conditions does not meet the cyclone will not develop. Wind speed
reduction in the cyclone may be possible if some of the above conditions are disturbed. In
project Stormfury [21] attempts were made by disturbing structure of eye.
4.0 Cyclone Modification: Earlier Efforts
So far technologies suggested are based on either modifying the structure of eye of the
cyclone or modifying the sea conditions. Project Stormfury was conducted with seeding
clouds to precipitate the clouds in the eye consequently to reduce the strength of winds.
Some more approaches suggested over the time, include:
(i) Cooling the water under a tropical cyclone by towing icebergs
(ii) Covering the ocean with substance that inhibits evaporation,
(iii) Soot - petroleum-burning and surrounding the storm to hamper solar radiation,
(iv) Dropping large quantities of ice into the eye to absorb latent heat by the ice,
(v) Blasting the cyclone with nuclear weapons,
(vi) Upwelling machine for pumping out cold water and cooling the core of storm,
(vii) Salter's sink to collect warm water and push it deep and bringing cold water up,
(viii) TUBE - to push surface water deep and setting upwelling ahead of cyclones,
(ix) Arrays of offshore wind turbines just ahead the cities.
Some of these methods were patented but hardly experimented.
4.1 The Experiment Stormfury
In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States Government attempted to weaken hurricanes
through Project Stormfury by seeding selected storms with silver iodide and ice nuclei. It
was based on the idea that the seeding would cause super cooled water in the outer rain
bands to freeze, causing the eyewall to collapse and thus reducing the winds [21]. The
winds of Hurricane Debbie dropped as much as 31%, but Debbie regained its strength
after each of two seeding [24]. In 1947, a hurricane east of Jacksonville, Florida recurved
after seeding, and entered Savannah, Georgia. Because of uncertainty about the behaviour
of storms, the United States Government did not approve seeding unless the hurricane
had a less than 10% chance of making landfall within 48 hours. It reduced the number of
test storms. The project was dropped after it was found that eyewall replacement occur
naturally in strong hurricanes, casting doubt on the result of the earlier attempts.
LHI 8 9 - 0 8 ; - 2 8 2 7 I 7" : 1 8
5
After the hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security, the
TTmt^^Stet¥r^
They asked scientists if any new techniques could change a hurricane's path or reduce its
wind speed. Some scientists have suggested a number of ideas for hurricane modification.
Atmocean, a private company in= Santa Fe,^New Mexico, envisages protecting the Gulf of
Mexico by deploying 1.6 million vertical tubes, each 2.5 meters in diameter and
extending 200 to 300 meters below the surface. A buoy atop each tube and a valve at the
bottom may pull cold water to the surface with the motion of every wave. •
4.2 Some Patents
A few patents are Salter Sink, Upwelling Machine and TUBE. .
4.2.1 The Salter Sink : United States Patent 7798419
Stephen H. Salter, emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh, applied for patents
that may be a feasible way to drain energy from hurricanes. The system would not
prevent hurricanes, arid it would need to be deployed for most of the year, not just when a
storm is imminent. It may reduce the strength of tropical cyclone substantially. The
system would work by cooling the sea surface in key regions of the warm corridor in the
Atlantic Ocean and in the western Pacific through which the most damaging storms
typically pass. A drop in the temperature by as little as 1-2 °C would drain significant
power from an oncoming storm, lowering peak wind speed and storm surge height.
0
Fig 2: A conceptual Salter Sink
MK~ W * .
The Salter Sink, as in Fig. 2, cools surface waters by mixing it with cooler layers of the
ocean at depth. A large, buoyant ring is attached to a long, skirt like tube whose bottom
opens in the cooler depths of the ocean. Ocean swells overtopping the ring will
periodically fill it with warm surface water. Because the water in the ring is above sea
level, the gravity will drive water to the bottom of the tube.
Over time, the tube will fill with warm surface water, so that the flow will force the hot
water to go down and mix with cold water below. Although some of the warm water
exiting the bottom of the tube will rise back to the surface, the modelling suggests that
enough mixing will take place to cause the ocean surface around the sink to cool.
The Salter Sink has several advantages over earlier ideas for weakening hurricanes. It
could work at a wide range of scales, from 10 meters in diameter to as large as 100
meters. Salter Sinks of moderate size appear to be able to remove surface heat at gigawatt
rates [17]. As Salter Sink contains no moving parts and is powered solely by gravity, it
should be comparatively easy and inexpensive to fabricate, deploy, and maintain.
Low cost and ease of deployment are crucial because of the unpredictability and
tremendous power of cyclonic storms. Thousands of Salter Sinks might have to be
deployed in- a regular spacing, with perhaps three kilometres apart, in order to cover the
wide swathes of ocean necessary to protect major cities against the worst effects of
hurricanes. To be effective, the sinks would most likely need to be put out to sea months
before hurricane season begins and retrieved shortly before major storms arrive.
Some of the effects of increased mixing of surface waters and mid depth waters of the sea
may be beneficial to marine life by increasing nutrient levels and improving oxygen
concentrations in the water [17]. Increased mixing might also accelerate CO2 uptake by
the ocean [18]. More research is needed to understand whether the sinks could cause
harmful effects as well. One obvious harmful effect may be thickening the warm layer of
the ocean and causing very severe storms in future. Ricardo Letelier, a microbial
oceanographer at Oregon State University, opined that, based on Salter's plan the scale of
any deployment that would have sufficient effect on ocean temperatures to alter
hurricanes would be impractically large. He collaborated on a different ocean pumping
L H I 0 9 - 0 8 - 2 0 1 7 27 : I f f•
7
scheme involving long, meter-wide tubes designed to suck water from the depths. The
project failed after 48 hours in 2006 in Hawaii but it is still being pursued by Atmocean.
4.2.2 Upwelling Machine Patent No. US 20080023566 Al
The method comprises of reducing the ascending speed of air flow rates in/ near eyewall
by using a floating structure to pump sea water on-site from under the sea surface to
above the sea surface, dispersing said sea water in the wind in/near eyewall [23]. Wind
energy to be used to operate the pump and to distribute water to the dispersing. The
upwelling machine was to work near the eyewall.
In the area, the machine is to operate, the ocean is already churned as almost half of the
storm would have passed over and thus the sea surface is sufficiently at low temperature.
This idea, though patented by US Scientist, was discussed with the first author by an
officer in the Government of India, sometimes in 2000 after Orissa Super Cyclone of Oct
1999. He submitted a proposal to the Department of Ocean Development. He suggested
use of OTEC kind of ship and spay cold water in the warm core of storm. The
Government of India did not agree to the proposal due to huge energy requirements.
4.2.3 Thermal Underwater Buoyancy Exchange (TUBE)
TUBE™ [22], as shown in Fig. 3. is a patented deep sea cold water upwelling device and
it pumps over 3 million gallons of warm surface water per minute to over 600 feet deep to
create an upwelling of cold water that may reduces Sea Surface Temperature. It covers
pre-programmed areas by constantly moving around the deep sea in front of approaching
storm guided by a GPS navigational system.
It would require a network of these devices to protect developed coastal areas, and it is
estimated that each device would cost around US$3 million. However, with hurricane
losses reaching all time highs at over US$46 billion in the United States alone in 2005,
the cost of deploying these devices is small. The damages are projected to continue to
rise in future due to coastal development and a peak in the hurricane cycles [2], [7], [14],
[15], [22].
L t t I B 3 ~ 8 8 - 2 0 1 7 17 : 1 8r
8
1/0
Fig 3: Diagram of a TUBE
4.3 Arrays of offshore wind turbines
A study using an advanced climate-weather model treats the energy extraction through
wind turbines to reduce the intensity of cyclones. Large turbine arrays, of 300+ Gigawatts
installed capacity on the coast and before the city may diminish peak near-surface
hurricane wind speeds by 56-92 mph and storm surge by 6-79% [10].
5.0 Mechanism of acceleration of Winds in Cyclone
In this section we try to investigate root cause of high wind speeds in a cyclone. There
are following three ways due to which winds can accelerate in a cyclone:
(i) Pressure fall at centre - increase in pressure gradient force
(ii) Higher SST, more evaporation and so availability of increased energy
(iii) Cloud to Ground (CG) and Cloud to Cloud (CC) lightning.
a -; 17- : 2
If the pressure at the centre goes down, the pressure gradient force will increase and so
the winds will accelerate. Higher SST will cause more energy available. The most
extensive process appears to be lightning to cause acceleration of winds, expansion and
generating guest in thunderstorms. In a cyclone extensive lightning and thunder activity
takes place. There is large scale generation and accumulation of electrical charges due to
updraft, downdrafts and differential speeds of the winds and blowing material such as
droplets, drops, ice crystals etc. When the voltage exceeds a limit the lightning takes
place. The lightning is equivalent to an explosion in the freely moving air/ fluid.
To keep the calculations simple let us assume that before a lightning the wind in the
storm is blowing with a constant speed u and the normal component of wind v=0 and the
vertical component w=0 (Fig. 4). Each parcel of air is assumed to be of unit mass.
• > > > > — ^ > > >
• » > > > > > > >
• » > > > > > > >
• » > > — ^ > > > - > — >
•> > > > > > > >
• » > > > > > > >
• » > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
Fig 4 : Initial Uniform Flow
As a CG or CC lightning takes place and it impact remains for a small time t.
Acceleration a is generated due to explosion resulting in pushing air parcels in all
directions as shown in Fig 5. The after the time t of lightning may be expressed as:
ul = u+at pushed forward
vl = 0+at pushed outward
wl = 0+at pushed upward
u2 = u-at pushed backward
v2 = 0-at pushed inward
w2 = 0-at pushed downward
7 1 o
10
->
>
*
• >
*
• »
*
* • >
»
*
*
» *
• >
*
Fig 5: Flow at the time of lightning
Immediately after this stage, air parcels start rushing back to original position from all the
directions with an added force created due to pressure gradient Ap/ Ax created by
explosion. Winds after next time step tl are given by
u3= ul-A p/A x . tl rushes back
=u+at - A p/ A x . tl
u4 = u2 + Ap/Ax . tl rushes forward
= u-at + Ap/Ax. tl
Assuming the two air parcels reaches a common point so that. u3=u4
u+at -A p/ A x . tl = u -at + Ap/Ax . tl
at = Ap/Ax tl
a = (Ap/Ax) (tl/t)
Term (Ap/Ax) is highly time dependant. As observed, t is much smaller than tl. As the
lightning takes place the situation occurs as shown in Fig 5. In the process the air ahead
of blast in the direction of air flow is pushed and accelerated. The air coming towards the
blast position is pushed back for a moment and it builds a high pressure belt due to
explosion and deposition of air/ fluid blowing in opposite direction of movement of air
parcels due to blast. Thus a very high pressure gradient is formed. This will cause the air
parcels to gain acceleration.
7 I 7 :
11
The winds accelerate due to explosion in all directions. The air parcels ahead of explosion
are pushed in the direction of motion accelerates the winds. The air parcels pushed in the
v direction may cause expansion of the storm. Winds pushed down cause gust due to
earth hampering the flow and air is pushed by the blowing winds in the direction it is
blowing. The winds pushed up cause growth of the clouds.
The next stage of the portion of the storm where explosion has taken place is described in
Fig. 6. The air parcel trying to come down from vertically displaced position may/not get
space as the horizontal flow might have filled its position. So either it will be bent
•horizontally or got permanently shifted upward adding to vertical growth of the storm.
The winds coming towards explosion pile up for a moment. The resultant maximum
pressure, though highly time dependant, can be used to estimate maximum wind speed
with the use of Bernoulli's equation.
The Ap/Ax can be approximated as follows. In lightning a very high intensity explosion
takes place. The estimated temperature in lightning.is about 30000 deg C, which is about
100 to 150 times the ambient temperature in deg K. Thus, applying the gas equation the
pressure around the lightning suddenly goes up and is approximately 100 to 150 times the
ambient pressure as the temperature has gone up from 200-300 deg K to 30000 deg K.
If we assume Ax as unit, the sudden acceleration will be of the order of 100P to 15 OP, P
being the ambient atmospheric pressure. (Compare with car tyre blast having pressure in
the range of 2P-3P).
> ->
>
»
>
>
• >
>
>
*
>
• >
>
*
• >
H
10 3P
u
{> o *
• >
>
>
• >
*
}
» •
->
>
>
*
>
>
} *
>
}
- >
- >
• >
>
>
}
• > >
Fig 6: Flow after lightning
2G
12
*
To estimate the wind speed "uS generated by high pressure belt caused by lightning we
may use Bernoulli's equation. Assuming P as pressure, u5 final wind speed and pi, p2
are air densities at returned to normal and immediately after blast situations respectively.
As the pressure once risen to 100 P falls to P we have:
P +.5 pi u52=100P + .5p2u22
.5 pi u52= 99P + .5p2u22
u5 2=2(99P+.5p2u22 ) / pl
= 198P/pl+u22p2/ pi 1
The quantity p2 is very small as the explosion increases the pressure and the density
becomes negligible. Also u2 is small. Thus
u5 = sqrt(198P/ p i)
= sqrt (2* 99 P/pi) 2
Thus, the blast is capable of increasing wind speed in the range of sqrt (198 P/ pi ).to
sqrt (2*149 P/ pi ). Let us try to estimate sqrt (P/ p). In a situation from calm with
pressure A to a some wind speed u, at pressure P the Burnauli equation gives:
2
P+.5 pu = A + 0
2
.5 pu - A -P
u = sqrt (2 AP/p) 3
Comparing equations 2 and 3 the u5/u is about sqrt(99) to sqrt(149) i.e 10 to 12. Thus
lightning is capable of increasing the wind speed of affected air parcels by 10-12 times.
2
Further, if u2 has considerably grown the term u2 p2/pl in equation 1 may not remain
negligible. Thus the stronger winds get high acceleration due to lightning. The pressure
gradient which is highly time dependent behaves as approximated by Friedlander blast
wave [16] (Fig. 7). In Fig 7, P max is the maximum pressure. Po is ambient pressure, Pmjn
is the Minimum pressure attained in the situation of a blast, tp is time when the pressure
first reaches the normal after blast and tn is the time when pressure becomes first time
normal after reaching minimum value measured from tp.
LK-I 0 9 - 8 8 - 2017 17 -IB- •
13
Pressure
max
Po
Pmin
Fig. 7 : Friedlander blast wave
The above analysis suggests if the explosions due to lightning are reduced the
acceleration, the horizontal expansion and the vertical growth of the storm can be
hampered to a great extent. The gusts will also be reduced. This will keep the wind
speeds low and the damaging effects of the storm will be reduced considerably.
6.0 Lightning Rod: to remove electric charge from cloud base
In this section we discuss available technologies on protecting infrastructure from
lightning. A lightning rod (or lightning conductor or Franklin rod) is a metal rod,
mounted on top of the structure. If lightning hits the structure, it will preferably strike the
rod and the electrical charges be conducted to ground through a wire.
The lightning rod was detailed by Benjamin Franklin in 1749. In 1820 W.S.Harris
invented a system for fitting lightning protection to the ships. The majority of lightning
protection systems in use today are of the traditional Franklin type. The fundamental
principle used in Franklin-type lightning protection systems is to provide a sufficiently
low impedance path for the lightning to travel and to reach ground without damaging [5].
14
The optimal shape of the tip of a lightning rod has been controversial since the 18th
century. British scientists maintained that a lightning rod should have a ball on its end,
while Americans maintained that it should be a sharp point. Charles B. Moore [24] in
2000 has claimed that moderately rounded or blunt-tipped lightning rods act marginally
better. The results of a study suggested that moderately blunt rods with tip height to tip
radius of curvature ratios of about 680:1 are better lightning receptors than sharp rods or
very blunt ones. Also, the height of the lightning protector relative to the structure and the
Earth will have an effect [25].
The theory of early streamer emission (ESE) proposed that if a lightning rod has a
mechanism of producing ionization near its tip, its lightning capture area is greatly
increased. Initially, small quantities of radioactive isotopes were used as sources of
ionization during 1930-1980, later replaced with electrical and electronic devices.
6.1 Removal of Electric Charge from Clouds of Storm
Objective of Franklin rod was to protect structures from lightning. In this study objective
is to reduce potential of the eclectically charged clouds to reduce CC and CG lightning.
Clouds have negative charge on the base and positive charge on the top. The charges keep
on accumulating and keep on increasing the strength of eclectic field. When the potential
difference exceeds beyond a limit the non conducting air gives way for lightning to occur.
The energy in a lightning strike is in the range of 1-10 billion joules. This energy is
released in a small number of separate strokes, each with duration of about 30 to 50
microseconds, over a period of about 0.2 second. Because of the high energy and current
of the order of 150,000 amps associated with lightning. Lightning current will divide to
follow every conductive path, and even the divided current can cause severe damages.
If we can move out the negative charge from the cloud base the electric potential
difference will be between the earth and cloud tops. It is assumed earth is neutral. The
height of the base of cloud may be 0-2 km. Thus the electric field between the top of the
cloud and ground will be reduced considerably because the distance has increased from 2
to 10 kms and the opposite charge is not available to the positive charge on the cloud top.
In such a situation lightning will not occur easily.
L-HI 6 9 - 8 8 - 2 0 1 7 17 : IS
15
Our effort is aimed to reduce occurrence of lightning in the cyclone to hamper
acceleration and growth of the storm due to lightning. This is based on our analysis that
the lightning causes acceleration and expansion and also the gust in the storm. It is
observed that some cyclones do not have lightning while a few had lot of lightning. The
reason could be that a in a fully developed storm the clouds touch the ocean and thus
conducting the negative charge continuously to ocean silently.
A method to reduce lightning could be inserting specially designed lightning rods with
conducting wires of sufficient length and strength into the storm hanging in air and .
floating on the ocean with large helium filled balloons of fire resistant material and heavy
floats tied on lower end of the conducting wire. We propose to use such arrangement at
the early stage of the storm development. Some simple designs could be as follows:
(i) About 2000 meter long aluminium wire hanging with the help of a sufficiently large
helium balloon/s to hold the wire as shown in Fig 8. At the top, near the balloon,
ESE (shown as + ) is used. The lower end is tied with a floating metal base so that if
the balloon moves towards land the float comes out of the water, exerts weight and
does not allow the wire to go easily towards land and habitation. Also if the balloon
explodes or the wire burns the float does not allow the whole length of wire to sink.
Fig 8 An extended Franklin Rod
L H I 09-O-8--2O1? i? : 1 3 •
16
(ii) If the storm has grown and it has clouds with sufficiently low clouds base, low
height conductors, may be of 5-10 meter supported by stable floats as in Fig. 9
may be used. (Floats without conductor and having ESE need also be
experimented with the fully grown storms.) These float should keep the conductor
vertical. The lower portion may be kept heavy so that it remains vertical and
keeps the conductor vertical. The conductor could be a sufficiently strong metal
pipes which can withstand in winds. At the top of the conductor ESE may be used.
!- 0 •;
Fig 9: A low height Franklin Rod with float for low base of clouds
(iii) A few aeroplanes may move above the storm, each carrying a long conducting
wire, with very high insulation between wire and the aeroplane. The conducting
wire, working as steering stick, in the clouds, to conduct electrical charges
between cloud top and cloud base silently. The wire has to be long enough to
conduct the electrical, charges and reduce CC lightning. This mechanism could be
extremely difficult to operate. Research is required to make weightless or less
weight conductors so that they are carried easily by the aeroplanes. A method to
design weightless conductors could be the conducting wire is not a single wire but
a spars mesh of wires in cylindrical form and helium balloons of fireproof
material are placed inside the mesh one after another. EME may be put at the top
and lower end of these connectors to attract the electrical charges. The
arrangement is as shown in Fig. 10.
HI. 9 9 - 6 8 - 2 0 1 7 1 7 : i$
17
Fig. 10 : A weightless conductor
These weightless connectors may also be use to connect cloud base to the sea surface.
Helium is suggested as hydrogen may catch fire easily. Aluminium or aluminium alloy is
to be used to keep the weight of the wire low. The length of wire, thickness of wire,
martial of the wire etc. are matter of research. The arrangement of inserting.the conductor
could be to airdrop them and make them float or place them on the path of the storm 3 to
5 km apart. Size of the balloons, strength of balloons and dropping arrangements need be
worked out with the help of mechanical, electrical and aeronautical engineers.
The arrangement (iii) above may look to be an impractical approach at first instance. But
it is the basis for future research. There could be an extremely simplified way to reduce
number of lightning through Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) technology. Remotely
controlled platforms may float at top of clouds and also at 1500-2000 meter height above
sea level moving with the air flow. These platforms will have to be linked in a WPT
technology enabled manner. This will neutralise the positive charge on the cloud tops and
negative charge on the cloud base. There could be one more approach. The platforms may
float at 2000 meter height and another set may float at the sea and use WPT. This will
draw the negative charge of the cloud base.
These experiments require extensive research and extremely large funding. The expanses
will be negligible as compared to the savings on the losses and damages caused by the
storm. A consortium of insurance companies can fund the research and experiments.
They can save a lot as the compensations to be paid are likely to reduce heavily.
B 8 '- 2 Q1
18
6,2 Conducting the Experiments
1. Cyclone forecast may be used for conducting the experiment. Reasonable forecast
is available on strength and track of a storm 4-5 days ahead of a storm is fully
developed. Such weather systems should be experimented which have high
potential of intensifying. In the initial stages, for the first two days of a low
pressure area, likely to become a storm, is to be experimented with 2000 meter
long aluminium wire systems described at (i) in section 6.2 above.
2. If the cloud base is at lower levels, we may use aluminium pipes fitted over stable
floats as described at (ii) in section 6.2 for the days till the storm remains noisy
with the thunders.
3. If the cloud base touches the ocean, electrical charges may be consciously passing
into the ocean. SME, just at the floats may still be suitable to attract the electrical
charges on the lower portion of the clouds.
4. Typical cyclones when fully grown up are of the size of 100 km in radius i.e.
31400 sq km area is covered. To remove electrical charge of such a structure, we
may experiment with one conductor inserted in 3 x 3 km area. Thus about 3500
conductors may be required for a storm of this size. A 100 km diameter storm
may need 875 units.
Following options may be tried:
(i) Airdropping the 2000 M wire Franklin rods tied with helium balloons
(ii) Placing the 2000 M wire Franklin rods on the path of the storm
(iii) Using the 2000 M wire Franklin rods with parachutes as kites
(iv) Placing Franklin rods of low height on the path of the storm.
(v) Airdropping Franklin rods of low height in the storm
(vi) Firing rocket tied with the 2000 M wire Franklin rods and using parachutes
(vii) Steering storm with weightless connectors using aeroplanes
(viii) Airdropping of weightless connectors
Following are open challenges:
(ix) WPT for discharging cloud top to cloud base
(x) WPT for discharging cloud base to ocean surface
L » I A ©9 - 0 8 - 2 0 1 7 1 7 : 1 8 •
19
7.0 Conclusion
In a cyclone, very strong winds and gusts are main cause of destruction. Strong winds
also cause surge and thus extensive flooding and further destruction. We found that the
electrical discharges in the form of lightning in the storm accelerate winds and cause
growth of the storm. If the electrical charges on the cloud base in the storm are removed
with suitably designed Franklin rods, the storms will not gain very strong winds. With
this mechanism we are trying to remove electrical energy from the clouds and hampering
its sudden conversion to sound, light and kinetic energies. Though we have suggested
length of conducting wires to be 2000 meters, the suitable lengths of conducting wire is to
be determined with experiments. In very intense cyclones we may require conductors of
short lengths for connecting cloud base to the sea surface. These conductors may turn out
to be of low cost and easy to handle.
The methods suggested are low cost and have very high business potential. The
Government can save extensively by saving human and animal lives, reduced damages of
crops and infrastructure. Insurance companies may save heavily on reduced
compensations. Many cyclone affected countries may come forward for hiring the
services or collaborate on the process;
References
1. Blake, Eric S.; Landsea, Christopher W.; Gibney, Ethan J. (2011). The Deadliest, Costliest, and the
most intense United States Tropical Cyclones from 1851 to 2010 (and other frequently requested
hurricane facts). NOAA Technical Memorandum "NWS "NHC-6.
2. Dowdy, A. J. (2014). Long-term changes in Australian tropical cyclone numbers. Atmospheric
Science Letters: 15(4), 292-298. doi:10.1002/as!2.502.
3. Dunnavan, G. M.; Diercks, J. W. (1980). An Analysis of Super Typhoon Tip (October 1979).
Monthly Weather Review. 108(11): 1915-1923.
4. Frank, N. L.; Husain, S. A. (1971). The Deadliest Tropical Cyclone in History. Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society. 52 (6): 438-445.
5. Fujiwhara, S. (1921): The natural tendency towards symmetry of motion and its application as a
principle in meteorology. Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc, 47, 287-292
6. Gray, William M. Tropical Cyclone Genesis, Atmospheric Science Paper Mo. 234, Colorado State
University, March, 1975
7. Henderson Sellers, A.; Zhang, H.; Berz, G.; Emanuel, K.; Gray, W.; Landsea, C; Holland, G.;
Lighthill, J.; Shieh, S. L.; Webster, P.; McGuffie, K. (1998). Tropical Cyclones and Global Climate
Change: A Post-IPCC Assessment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 79: 19-38.
8. Holland, G. J. (1983). Tropical Cyclone Motion: Environmental Interaction Plus a Beta Effect.
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 40 (2): 328-342:
9. Irish, J. L.; Resio, D. T.; Ratcliff, J. J. (2008). The Influence of Storm Size on Hurricane Surge.
Journal of Physical Oceanography. 38 (9): 2003-2013.
10. Jacobson Mark Z.s Archer Cristina L., & Kempton Willett , Taming hurricanes with arrays of
offshore wind turbines, Nature Climate Change 4, 195-200 (2014)
11. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (2006). 3.3 JTWC Forecasting Philosophies. United States Navy.
Retrieved February 11, 2007.
12. Kalsi, S. R. - Orissa super cyclone - A Synopsis, MAUSAM, 57, 1 (January 2006), 1-20
13. Kikuchi, Kazuyoshi; Wang, Bin; Fudeyasu, Hironori (2009). Genesis of tropical cyclone Nargis
revealed by multiple satellite observations, Geophysical Research Letters. 36 (6)
14. Knutson, T. R.; McBride, J. L.;.Chan, J.; Emanuel, K.; Holland, G.; Landsea, C; Held, I.; Kossin, J.
P.; Srivastava, A. K.; Sugi, M. (2010). Tropical cyclones and climate change. Nature Geoscience. 3
(3): 157-163.
15. Landsea, C. W.; Harper, B. A.; Hoarau, K; Knaff, J. A. (2006). CLIMATE CHANGE: Can We
Detect Trends in Extreme Tropical Cyclones?. Science. 313 (5786): 452-4.
16. Razani A, Shock Waves In Gas Dynamics, Surveys in Mathematics and its Applications, Volume 2
(2007), 59 .89
17. Salter, S. H. Wave-powered desertification for hurricane suppression, acidity reduction, carbon
storage and enhanced phytoplankton, dimethyl sulphide and fish production. IOP Conference Series:
Earth and Environmental Science 6, 452012, 2009.
18. Salter. S. H. A 20 GW-thermal, 300 m3/s, wave-energised, surge-mode nutrient pump for removing
atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing fish stocks and suppressing hurricanes. Proceedings of the
8th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Uppsala, Sweden, 2009.
19. Stewart Stacy, R. Tropical Cyclone Report Hurricane Ivan 2004, 2-26 September 2004, Tropical
Prediction Centre, National Hurricane Centre, Jan 2005
20. Webster, P. J.; Holland G.J.; Curry J.A.; Chang H.R. (2005). Changes in Tropical Cyclone Number,
Duration, and Intensity in a Warming Environment. Science. 309 (5742): 1844-1846.
21. Willoughby, H. E.; Jorgensen, D. P.; Black, R. A.; Rosenthal, S. L. (1985). Project Stormfury: A
Scientific Chronicle 1962-1983. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 66 (5): 505-514.
Internet
22. Barber J.L. 2006, Patent: Thermal Underwater Bouncy Exchange (TUBE)
http://www.preventhurricanes.com
23. Patent no. US 20080023566 Al. Method of and a device for the reduction of tropical cyclones
destructive force https://www.google.com/patents/US20080023566
24. National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) website
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html
25. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone

CLAIMS
We Claim :
1. Lightning is the major cause of intensification and growth of cyclone.
2. If the lightning activity in the cyclone or any storm is reduced, the wind
speed in the storm will not rise to dangerous level.
3. Cloud base to ground and cloud top to cloud base neutralisation of
electrical charges will reduce lightning in the storm.
4. Franklin rod with sufficiently long wire, floating with the help of
helium balloons of fireproof material and a heavy float on the ocean
may work to reduce lightning.
5. Low height Franklin rod with stable base floating in ocean can be used
to withdraw electrical charge from clouds of low cloud base.
6. Cloud top to Cloud base can be connected though weightless
connectors to reduce cloud to cloud lightning.
7. Weightless connectors are basis of use of Wireless Transmission of
Power (WTP) technology to neutralise cloud's electric charges.