HARVEY JUST LEFT A WATERY WORLD BEHIND ITSELF…
(…deep in the heart of Texas)

Hurricane Harvey just clobbered the Gulf Coast of Texas, from Corpus Christi and Galveston to Houston and Dallas, and now heading off right into neighboring Louisiana, and beyond.

While its wind velocities were intense enough, these were relatively minor compared to the momentous amounts of rainfall it dumped along that coast line, with Houston bearing the brunt of that. Harvey just left a watery world behind itself…deep in the heart of Texas…a track of devastation on par with Katrina which previously clobbered New Orleans.

Of course, devastating hurricanes are nothing new, but lately they seem to be particularly nasty and destructive. To what extent this is due to the current global warming issue we’ll leave to others to ponder about. Nevertheless, it seems to us that with all our technological advances we should be able to come up with something to minimize their devastating impacts…and a few years ago we came up with a concept which could possibly do that… and at a relatively small cost besides.

How feasible this idea might be we’ll have to leave to the experts, but it is something that just might work. When we think of the billions of dollars, the lost and disrupted lives, and the long lingering after effects of such natural disasters, perhaps the concept outlined in the attached annex may be worth considering.

CENTURION

ANNEX – Issue No. 77 – Aug 2017

To Establish a Hurricane Defense Task Force (HDTF):

Overview:

Every year the Atlantic/East Coast of the USA, and the islands of the Caribbean and West Indies, are subjected to a series of tropical storms, many of which develop into very destructive hurricanes.

Spawned in the tropical latitudes just off the west coast of Africa, where high summer heat warms the ocean waters, creating rising columns of warm moist air, these storms move across the Atlantic to ultimately strike against the islands of the Caribbean and the West Indies and on to the shores of the North American continent. A secondary series of these storms also impact the Gulf Coast, from Yucatan, Mexico, to the west coast of Florida. The general track of these storms is shown in the diagram below: 

As can be seen, such storms not only collide with the SE US coastlines, but, because of those coasts’ orientation, and the Gulf Stream which very closely follows that orientation, they tend to continue northwards along the entire eastern seaboard.  Many of them reaching as far north as New England, and even Labrador, before veering out to sea and dissipating. Others, pass through the West Indies, and continue into the Gulf of Mexico, where they build up again to impact anywhere along the Mexican or US Gulf Coasts.

In recent times, the Earth appears to have entered a period/cycle when such storms are becoming more numerous during the season, much larger, and more violent, with each following hard on the heels of the one preceding it.  That, in turn, taxes the limits of available emergency and disaster relief resources. The economic losses and damages from these are also in the billions of dollars.

While we have evolved a highly sophisticated and effective storm watch system in recent years (especially with the use of satellite imagery), the system is essentially a passive system, performing only early warning functions, by providing projected storm tracks, dimensions, wind velocity data, etc. And while that has helped to reduce the loss of human life each year, it can do nothing about the physical damages to property and infrastructure which occur when such hurricanes make landfall.

 What follows is an outline to create a companion proactive system which, once a potential hurricane has been spotted, and the formation of its “eye” clearly defined, would be able to launch counter measures to either nullify its intensity, or reduce it to just a nominal and seasonally beneficial tropical storm, minimizing both loss of life and economic damage.

Composition of a Hurricane Defense Task Force:

This would be a seasonal operational entity, composed of personnel and assets attached to it from various Federal departments and agencies, under the direction of a designated Task Force Director/Commander. Agencies and Departments involved would include NOAA/USWS, NASA, USAF, USCG, FEMA, and others, as appropriate.

Mission:

To create a means to effectively defuse or nullify the potential effects of approaching hurricanes, before they can impact on shore.

Base Location:

Given the latitudes where such storms are formed, and their general lines of approach, basing the HDTF at Homestead AFB, at the south tip of Florida, would provide a relatively short radius/strike distance to intercept such storms, either in the Atlantic or the Gulf in a matter of just a few hours.  Thus, the interdiction/strike zone would only be on the order of 500-1000 NM off shore, depending on the circumstances of a hurricane’s line of approach.

Primary Equipment:

The primary equipment for this would be a number of superannuated B-52 bombers no longer suitable for military operations. Rather than just scrapping these, a selected number of them would be refurbished and reconfigured for this purpose. That is, they would be stripped of all military equipment to a bare bones condition. Fuselage and engines would then be zero-timed and overhauled, while their bomb bays and systems would be reconfigured for this new purpose.  The main advantages for using B-52s, are:

* They have a very high-altitude capability to overfly such storms

* They have a long-range capability, thus, well able to range out the required distance and back with a nominal fuel load.

* They have a very large cargo capacity, especially if they are stripped of all non-essential onboard equipment.

* There are a number of former pilots and crews of these particular aircraft who, either being retired or in reserve status, could be available on a seasonal basis to perform such missions. Thus, reconfiguration of these aircraft, and crew training for these missions, could be accomplished in a short time frame, and at relatively low cost.

* Given the nature of these anti-hurricane missions, and the short flight times involved, not more than a dozen such aircraft would be needed to perform these missions.

* Organized in flights of 3 aircraft per sortie, the HDTF would thus have the means to launch a continuous series of strikes against an advancing hurricane, until it collapsed or diminished its intensity.

Material Used:

The cargo used by the planes for these missions would be DRY ICE STICKS, of approximately 20 Kgs each (approx..10” dia. x 48” long as extruded from machinery). This stick configuration would be the easiest to handle, and because it would be tumbling through those eyewall layers, provide the most effective cooling effect.

Since the driving mechanism of a hurricane is the warm/hot air rising along the wall of the eye, with its force or intensity deriving from the temperatures therein (that is, the higher the temperatures, the more violent the winds of such storms), it seems logical to develop and use such a method to simultaneously radically drop the air temperatures along the entire circumference of the eye wall.

B-52s can provide the massive loads required to accomplish that. Dry ice sticks (at minus 107F), provide the extreme cold effects needed to achieve the desired results. The stick configuration would allow a deep vertical penetration of the eye wall strata, before completely dissipating. Dry ice is the most desirable material because, besides its extremely cold temperature, it is easy and economical to produce.  The HDTF could have its own producing plant at its base, to allow for continuous production, as needed.

HDTF Methods and Procedures:

Once a potentially dangerous hurricane has been satellite spotted, and its eye has clearly developed, sorties would be launched to intercept it in a selected strike zone. Given the general track of these storms, that would range from 500-1000 NM, ESE from the southern Florida shore, and to a similar WSW area for anything in the Gulf.

Loaded to maximum capacity with dry ice sticks, a three-plane flight would be launched to intercept the storm.  Once on station right above the eye wall, the planes would take position (see diagram below), and, in a coordinated drop, simultaneously release their loads all along the entire circumference of the eye wall.  If the radical cooling effects of such a drop occurred as projected, the eye wall would collapse, and the storm’s wind velocities would be diminished.

outer ring zone                    eye

wall

                                                                     zone

                                                                                                    aaa aircraft  

                      starting positions of

                                                                    eye                                             

wall

zone

If necessary, a second flight of three more planes would be timed to arrive immediately behind the first one, dropping their loads as a second, follow-up strike. Others could follow in rotation, with each flight timed like a relay/round robin movement.

As the eye wall collapsed, the storm could then be downgraded from hurricane classification, to tropical storm. The monitoring, early warning system would resume its function, while the HDTF would return to base, remaining on standby until the next sortie requirement.

SUMMARY:

Activating such a Hurricane Defense Task Force should be relatively easy, and inexpensive.

Each Department involved would contribute towards its operation either with personnel, equipment, and/or expertise. The costs for these assets would be shared.

Other than the initial cost to zero time and prepare the aircraft for this new type mission, plus, setting up the necessary dry ice plant at their base, only direct operational costs (personnel, fuel, dry ice loads) would be required.

Considering the cost of damages caused by such hurricanes each year, the cost/benefit of having such a seasonal task force to reduce their impacts is extremely advantageous.

An initial “pilot” program could be organized, outfitted, tested, and be made ready in the interval between a current year’s hurricane season, and the next. If such a HDTF were successful, it would then only be a matter of improving and refining the system each year thereafter.

It should be noted that the same HDTF could also be used to ward off storms in the Gulf of Mexico, from the same base. Thus, this would be a very cost effective preventative system.

ADDENDUM:

A similar application, with certain specific modifications could be used to suppress extreme wild fires in remote and rugged areas of the West. This would be particularly helpful in such areas where firefighting crews face insurmountable tasks to set up containment lines, etc.  Normal tanker aircraft and helicopter elements are also inadequate in such instances, since they don’t have the load capacity to drop much on each sortie.

But, with such a three plane B-52 sortie, the combination load of water, dry ice, and/or other retardants could have a much more effective impact on containing a raging line of fire, thereby giving ground crews a better chance at achieving full containment.

Since these aircraft have a high-altitude capability, they would be less affected by the heat thermals rising from such fires, and still be able to accurately place their loads where needed. In effect, applying “carpet bombing” techniques against such advancing fire lines. Combined with both ground GPS and/or GPR equipment, the accuracy of such drops would be well assured.

Lastly, with regards to tornados, since these appear to have the same driving mechanism as with hurricanes (but with a different configuration), a similar method may be feasible for that too. That is, since tornados develop from storm cells, where warm moist air collides with cold dry air, the question is thus: What would happen if a threatening storm cell showing signs of spawning a tornado were bombarded with similar dry ice sticks as described above?  Would the rapid cooling effects thus generated defuse or inhibit it from forming a tornado?

SUMMARY:

If the driving mechanisms for both hurricanes and tornados are similar, then such a massive “cooling down” counter measure concept should inhibit or diminish their intensities.

And since the tornado, fire, and hurricane seasons appear to follow in sequence, that is, tornados in spring, fires in summer, and hurricanes in fall, such a task force could be applied to help counter all three of these natural events.  Thus, we would be maximizing the effectiveness of manning and operating such a task force. From a budgetary point of view this would be extremely cost effective.

As to the economic benefits to be derived from such a program, when one considers the billions in damages from destroyed homes, businesses, infrastructure, etc., the potential savings from preventing such losses, not to mention losses of lives, more than make up for the cost of setting it up and maintaining its operations on a seasonal basis.  That is, on a semi-annual schedule.

Thus, much of the disaster relief funding expenditures would be reduced to be reserved for events for which such counter measures are not possible. Simply put, besides recycling no longer useful military machines into a useful civilian purpose, it would be a more effective application and use of those available resources.