5 Shocking Attempts to Control the Weather
5 Shocking Attempts to Control the Weather
Operation Popeye
Normally used to scout war time weather conditions, the US 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron took on a special role during the Vietnam War.
Operation Popeye
As part of Operation Popeye, the Squadron began a secret experiment to increase the amount of rainfall and slow enemy movement.
Operation Popeye
Starting in March 1967 and continuing through every monsoon season until 1972...
Operation Popeye
...three C-130 Hercules aircraft and two F-4C Phantoms seeded cloud formation over Laos with silver iodine twice per day...
Operation Popeye
...three C-130 Hercules aircraft and two F-4C Phantoms seeded cloud formation over Laos with silver iodine twice per day...
Operation Popeye
...extending the rainy season over the targets areas an average of 30 to 45 days.
Operation Popeye
5 Shocking Attempts to Control the Weather
Esso Oil
In the 1960s, the Esso Oil company proposed a plan to cover 20 square miles of Venezuela's Paraguana Peninsula with asphalt....
Esso Oil
In the 1960s, the Esso Oil company proposed a plan to cover 20 square miles of Venezuela's Paraguana Peninsula with asphalt....
Esso Oil
...theorizing that the heat from the black asphalt would create a "thermal mountain" of rising air...
Esso Oil
...and encourage the formation of rain-producing Cumulus clouds.
Esso Oil
The project was eventually blocked by the Venezuelan government...
Esso Oil
...which suspected that the plan was a trick to get rid of the asphalt - a by-product of Esso's oil refineries - without paying export taxes.
Esso Oil
5 Shocking Attempts to Control the Weather
Project Cirrus
The first ever attempt to modify a hurricane was launched in October 1947 as a collaboration between General Electric, the US Army, the US Navy, and the US Air Force.
Project Cirrus
Irving Langmuir, a scientist at GE, theorized that seeding the eyewall of a hurricane with dry ice or silver iodine would cause it to weaken.
Project Cirrus
To test the theory, a naval B-17 bomber dropped 80 pounds of crushed dry ice into a hurricane headed away from the coast of Florida.
Project Cirrus
The hurricane unexpectedly strengthened and changed direction, making landfall in Savannah Georgia where it caused $34 million in damages.
Project Cirrus
Though it is unlikely that Project Cirrus had any impact on the hurricane, the threat of lawsuits put further research on hold for 11 years.
Project Cirrus
5 Shocking Attempts to Control the Weather
Sonic Booms
In 1998 a professor at the University of Akron at Ohio patented a method for breaking up hurricanes using sonic booms.
Sonic Booms
The method called for two F-4 fighter jets to fly around the eye of a hurricane at Mach 1.5...
Sonic Booms
...creating supersonic booms to counter the rotation of the hurricane...
Sonic Booms
...and disrupt the upward flow of warm air feeding it.
Sonic Booms
The method has yet to be tested, but one prominent weather scientist doubts the idea will work, likening it to "shouting in the wind."
Sonic Booms
5 Shocking Attempts to Control the Weather
HAARP
Though not an official weather modification program, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program is central to many weather conspiracy theories...
HAARP
...which blame it for everything from tornadoes and hurricanes to earthquakes and tsunamis.
HAARP
The program, jointly run by the US Air Force, US Navy, the University of Alaska and the infamous DARPA, consists of 180 antennas covering 33 acres...
HAARP
...which direct high-frequency radio signals into the Earth's ionosphere to investigate ionospheric radio and surveillance technology.
HAARP
But does it have a secret mission? The European Union called the project a global concern and passed a resolution calling for more information on its risks...
HAARP
