You may remember hearing about China's plans to control the weather during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by attacking shady clouds with artillery and aircraft. Along similar lines, scientists in New Mexico decided to mess with thunderclouds, but with fancy lasers.
The researchers harassed two passing storms from their evil fortress (or observatory) with a high powered laser, fired in pulses. The laser light managed to generate clusters of plasma filaments that, in turn, caused electrical discharges within the thunderheads. It wasn't enough to get those coveted air-to-ground lighting strikes, though.
Why are they doing it? Being able to trigger a gen-u-wine lightning bolt would allow scientists to study their effects in a controlled manner, such as the effect of lightning on power lines and aircraft. It'd also allow them to ruin someone's day. Over and over.
Optics Express, via EurekAlert!
editor@dvice.com
By Charlie at 3:02 AM ON 04/15/08
I believe that is the best headline of the day.
By Lupus at 4:23 AM ON 04/16/08
Fantastic!
By HotRodPolk at 7:39 AM ON 04/16/08
That's cool and all, but it sounds like another way for the governments to control or eliminate their citizens....
By sam81452667 at 8:54 AM ON 04/16/08
well seeding clouds isn't something new, so why not poke thunderclouds? But I doubt that they'll ever get usefufl results - there simply too many variables!
By HappyB at 8:59 AM ON 04/16/08
Lets see... 2 space based lasers. One to excite the storm and generate the charge, the other to "paint" the target thru storm and set ionized conduit for discharge. MEGA-TASER!!!
By jlancaster at 8:59 AM ON 04/16/08
OK, so our world isn't screwed up enough they have to go and play with fire; or lightening as the case may be. I wonder if the long-term effects were considered? Or was it supposed there would be no long-term effects? Haven't they been watching the disaster films on Sci-Fi?
By haff at 10:13 AM ON 04/16/08
PEW PEW PEW
Hey jlancaster,
They can't have watched those disaster movies, they are so painfully cheesy (and not in a good way) they have to be turned off after 5 minutes so NO, they most certainly have not watched more than the opening few moments when the cheap washed up actors and even cheaper special effects (recycled from the early 80s?) flounder in a sea of gooey cheesiness that drowns any semblance of being taken seriously...
By ckean at 11:33 AM ON 04/16/08
A number of years ago, one of the local progressive-rock stations in Philly organized an outdoor laser show to be simultaneous with an FM music presentation from their station. Me and my then-girlfriend found a suitable location to view the show while tuned in to the station on the excellent FM stereo in my Dad's car. Unfortunately, a higher power also scheduled thunderstorms for that night as well. We went and parked anyway. Up to the time the laser show began there was no rain, no thunder, and no lightning - just really NASTY-looking clouds. At the appointed time the show began and, I swear this is true, almost instantaneously, ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE: thunder, lightning, the whole nine yards! It was ALWAYS my feeling that the two events were related, that the lasers ionized the clouds and caused the storm. If anybody wants to, they can contact WMMR-FM in Philadelphia. This happened way back in the late seventies. That's all I can offer as a time-frame.
By Olfroggy at 11:52 AM ON 04/16/08
If nothing else, causing lightning would replace ozone in the atmosphere
By DarthRock at 11:57 AM ON 04/16/08
LOL...! And soon, we'll turn the Moon into the Death Star...! Where is Grand Moff Tarkin and Lord Vader when we need them... oh, yeah... They're already here, Bush & Cheney... LOL!
By Papamonkie at 11:57 AM ON 04/16/08
I would think the possibilities of harnassing a controlled lighting strike ("1.21 Gigawatts! 1.21 Gigawatts! The only thing that can produce that much power is a bolt of lightning, Marty!") and feeding the power into a storage system (check up on how they are storing solar energy from farms in SoCal and AZ so they can get 5-6 hours of power output during overcast and nightsky conditions) to be bled into the Grid as needed.
I'm not saying its not risky, but the benefits of such a (relatively, when taken in comparison to hurricanes, tornadoes and other large-power scale meteorological events) common event being tapped to reduce greenhouse gas emmissions, coal and other fossil fuel consumption, and to produce a series of the coolest ground-strike photos the web has ever seen.
Just .02 (which, with inflation being what it is, is even less than worthless ;-D) from a new poster. :-)
Papamonkie
By cyberbob_67 at 12:01 PM ON 04/16/08
Maybe so, but the government is too retarded to believe in such an easy solution to global warming. Maybe in about 25 years some scientist will 'discover' that this exact scenario will work and suddenly save mankind
By YFOLLOWER at 12:49 PM ON 04/16/08
Great article.
Hey DARTHROCK: I agree with your assessment of King George being Grand Moff Tarkin. But Cheney can't possibly equal Vador. Personalities are too different. Got a great laugh out of your comment, though. HOTRODPOLK: Nice to see someone else with their eyes open. But then again, most SciFi fans do.
By moose at 4:45 PM ON 04/16/08
Best comment - use the laser to generate ozone and stop Gore talking about MOTHER NATURE taking care of business.
By iritsky at 2:04 AM ON 04/17/08
I believe the expression is they are "fighting fire with fire", but in this case it is instigating fire with fire. Shakespeare wrote" What fools thses mortals be. They know not what they do..." It's cool, but dangerous!
By Deni at 9:24 AM ON 04/17/08
anyone selling high energy lasers?
*mwehehehehe*
By Uriel at 7:29 PM ON 04/17/08
Hey CYBERBOB & OL'FROGGY!!
you know, Gold Dust actually can be used in some way to 'heal' holes in ozone layers. That's why the Annunaki (from Orion) came here in the first place, in fact.. to mine the Earth for Gold. That was a Looooong time ago, of course, as the anthropological 'missing link'=23 million years ago (or 13, depending on the researcher. (Doesn't that sound a lot like the Goa'ld mining 'planets' for 'Naquada' in Stargate SG1? Ha ha ha ha ha, Sci-Fi is NOT all '-Fi')
Do what Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law.