Bill Gates files patent to control weather, stop hurricanes

Bill Gates filed a patent to control weather

Bill Gates: entrepreneur, innovator, philanthropist. Seemingly, these words should be more than enough to describe someone of Gates’s stature. A new PC World article, however, suggests that Gates might soon add “weather controller” to his resume.

According to a patent application filed in July 2009 by Intellectual Ventures—a think-tank run by a former Microsoft employee—Gates and twelve other inventors are making a genuine stab at weather control. Their idea? To halt hurricanes in their path.

The patent’s abstract makes science fiction seem close to reality:

A method is generally described which includes environmental alteration. The method includes determining a placement of at least one vessel capable of moving water to lower depths in the water via wave induced downwelling. The method also includes placing the at least one vessel in the determined placement. Further, the method includes generating movement of the water adjacent the surface of the water in response to the placing.

Since hurricanes are fueled by warm water, it actually makes logical sense to cool the water in a hurricane’s path. The patent details how ships would be deployed to draw colder water from the depths below. The arrival of cold water would, in theory, create something of a wall for hurricanes, causing them to fall apart. However, with the patent comes inevitable incredulity and criticism.

In a CNN piece on the patent, hurricane expert William Gray, who has been in the hurricane business for fifty years, expressed doubt that Gates’s plan is feasbile:

"The problem is the storms come up so rapidly," said Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. "You only get two to three days warning. It's very difficult to bring up enough cold water in two to three days to have much effect. There is no way to stop it. The storm might weaken in the center, but the outer areas wouldn't be affected much."

The outer areas, of course, are what cause damage and trigger flooding.

The CNN article also criticizes the concept of (literally) throwing cold water on enivronmental science. MIT professor Kerry Emanuel notes that “you're doing something to the ocean that the hurricane would have done anyway.”

Hurricanes already churn up cold water as they cross oceans. Therefore, the coldest water is in the wake of the storm.

“This would only be practical if the amount [of money] you spend doing this would be less than the damage caused by the hurricane," Emanuel said.