Eliminating Hurricanes
by Sea Fertilization
Sea fertilization was suggested by oceanographer John Martin and is known as the Iron Hypothesis. It was suggested to reverse the greenhouse effect and absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Martin/martin_4.html
By sprinkling a small amount of iron and other minerals a large
population of algae and phytoplankton will grow. The algae will absorb the sun
light energy by photosynthesis and will convert it to hydrocarbons, without heating the sea area.
Hurricanes are propelled by the hot sea water, therefore if the sea water are
cooled by the algae the hurricane will not start or its force will be much diminished.
By historically analyzing the origin and
route of the hurricanes it is possible to select the sea area to fertilize in
order to diminish future hurricanes. For instance by fertilizing the
According to an article "Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years" by Kerry Emanuel in Nature magazine Volume 436 Issue 7051 from August 2005 it is said the one degree of sea water temperature increase the hurricane wind speed by about 5 percent.
The algae and phytoplankton need nutrition and minerals to grow. The nutrition is phosphorous and nitrogen compounds similar to those used as fertilizers for soil crops. The sea can provide many of the mineral require for growth. However, not all the required minerals are in adequate quantity. There can be a shortage of Iron, Copper, Zinc, Boron and Molybdenum.
To effectively fertilize the sea the specific area need to be analyzed for the natural quantities of nutrition and mineral. If only specific mineral like Iron is missing it is only needed to sprinkle Iron. If for instance, Iron, Copper and Zinc are missing it is needed to sprinkle Iron, Copper and Zinc. If nutrition phosphorous and nitrogen compounds are missing it is needed to add them too. The amount of the nutrition compounds required for growth is much higher then the amount of the minerals.
The balance of the materials in the sea fertilizer should be affected by its amount in the sea water and by the amount required for normal algae tissue.
The algae will also prevent the sun light from reaching the deep sea area. This will prevent hurricanes from gaining force from deep sea hot water mixing.
By using satellite infrared scanning to measure sea temperature it is possible to set a temperature threshold that will initialize the sea fertilization.
In the link relating to the Iron Hypothesis ( http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Martin/martin_4.html ) there is a graph that determine that the time for the algae to from fertilization is about 5 days. If the route of a hurricane is predicted using computer models it is possible to block it by sprinkling fertilizers in its pass.
The risks to the natural environment form local sea fertilization like oxygen and nutrition depletion (similar to eutrophication in lakes) is much smaller then the devastation caused to the sea and land life from the hurricane.