In the last century, human beings have been able to do things that seem to be scenarios only from science fiction: stepping on the moon, cloning and even creating a vaccine in record time to try to save millions of lives of the Covid pandemic.
However, there are things that on paper are not in our hands, especially those natural phenomena that can end in catastrophe, which we have been told are impossible to control.
In recent days, in the United States, Florida suffered the terrible onslaught caused by Hurricane Ian, which not only left numerous material damages but also dozens of human losses.
On the subject, according to CNN, the US National Hurricane Center. (NHC, for its acronym in English) receives among dozens of emails from people concerned about the ferocity of these weather events, said in an interview in Dennis Feltgen , of the area of Public Affairs of the institution.
But also, there is a question that is often made to the experts of the NHC, including former President Donald Trump, who at the time suggested whether hurricanes could be destroyed with some kind of nuclear bomb before they reach land.
Can a hurricane be stopped or destroyed?
Feltgen’s response is blunt: NO.
Any tactic that is thought or imagined to try to modifying or destroying a hurricane does not work, since these are much larger and more powerful than we can imagine. “The energy they carry is immense in terms of human experience”, he added.
“As carefully reasoned as some of these suggestions are, they all share the same deficiency: they do not appreciate the size and power of tropical cyclones,” says Feltgen.
As to why dropping bombs on storms would not diminish their power and could even lead to more problems, the NHC responds as follows: “Apart from the fact that While this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would move quickly enough with the trade winds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, it’s not a good idea.”
On the subject, the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English) maintains a complete list of discredited methods to undo hurricanes, such as: seeding storms with silver iodide or particles hydroscopic or putting things on the surface of the ocean to prevent evaporation, as well as cooling the surface of the water with icebergs.
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