Very good! The first time I read this, I thought it actually came from the patent. Have you considered a career as a patent attorney? I hear the pay is good, but afterwards, your ability to communicate in written form will be severely diminished. I would recommend reading it several times. It does become somewhat clearer with each iteration.
----- Original Message ----- From: "dsw_s" <[email protected]> To: "geoengineering" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:39 PM Subject: [geo] Re: Hurricane Insurance In yet still another aspect, not meant to be limiting, an exemplary embodiment of thermally-enhanced ambient gases previously utilized in the provision of patent-related legal services regarding the methods herein referenced, could be released in at one surface region distant from at least one storm, altering global circulation patterns etc. Has anyone sorted through the gobbledygook to see what if anything the patent application actually says? On Jul 15, 11:53 am, "Alvia Gaskill" <[email protected]> wrote: > Since we had a lengthy discussion about hurricane suppression and their > contribution to global heat transport recently, I thought this would be of > interest, especially since at least 4 group members are listed on the > patent application. I've already had discussions with some of the people > involved in this, but will limit my comments to information in the patent > application. > > 1. The number of units (actually large floating rings with a plastic > conduit extending below the surface) required to be effective is > prohibitively large, just as in the case of the Atmocean and > Lovelock/Rapley ideas, even though this one is based on a slightly > different principle of getting denser deep water to mix with shallow > surface water creating an equilibrium zone, thereby cooling the surface > water and bringing up nutrient rich water into the photic zone. > > 2. The plastic conduit is described as either flexible or inflexible. The > "flexible" one used in Discovery Project Earth's "Hungry Ocean" was 1000 > ft long, made of what looked like a garbage bag-like material and lasted > all of 1 day before ocean currents took care of it. The sturdiness of this > material would seem to be a weak link in the design as it would have to > withstand a real pounding and the heavier the material, the more costly. > > 3. Moving them around in anticipation of hurricanes or hurricane season > would be equally prohibitively expensive or even impossible, although > possibility is claimed in the patent (you can "claim" anything you want in > a patent application). > > 4. There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding about how hurricanes > form and exist after formation that all of the authors of this and similar > ideas seem to not get or not want to get as that would spell the end of > the idea and the flow of money from the financiers. I note that none of > the names on the patent application are of hurricane experts. > > 5. For hurricanes to form, the SST (sea surface temperature) has to be > around 81 degrees F down to about 150 ft. Once formed, however, hurricanes > can travel over much colder water without losing their integrity, although > some decline in intensity is likely. This depends in part on how fast they > are moving. > > 6. Since one area of interest is the Gulf of Mexico (prime insurance > territory I am told), I've included several figures showing the depth of > water in the Gulf and Atlantic at different times of the year at which the > temperature is 79 degrees F (the 81 degree figure is for formation, 79 is > often reported as a temperature for continued existence without loss of > energy). > > 7. In May of this year, the 79F depth was more than 300 ft in the western > Carribean and parts of the Gulf. In early September 2007, this 300 ft > depth extended into the Gulf and was nearly 500 ft off the coast of > Louisiana. The 79F depth of over 200 ft. was prevalent throughout the > Caribbean and along the southeast coast of the U.S. > > 8. These depth figures are important as the proposed device would extend > downward 100 ft. For it to function as intended, it would have to draw up > water from well below 100 ft that is much colder than 79F to create a > hurricane unfriendly pool of water. It isn't at all clear that would be > the case. It may just recycle one parcel of warm water with another one. > > 9. Rather than waste resources on trying to cool off the entire Atlantic > basin, a better use of this idea would be to position the wave pumps over > the Loop Current, shown below. This is believed to be the source of the > very warm water that caused Katrina and Rita to explode from Cat 1 to Cat > 5 status in less than 48 hours. However, this current still covers a very > large area and is more than 100 miles wide. > > 10. Other uses of the device to provide nutrients to enhance phytoplankton > growth, reduce atmospheric CO2 and increase fish populations seem equally > speculative, given that no one has to date shown that other than temporary > blooms from adding iron any of these are possible. The goal of increasing > fish populations seems to overlook the fact that the baby fish have to > grow up somewhere else and that ecosystem may be the determining factor, > not artificially elevated nutrient levels in surface waters. > > 11. It's good to see that Myhrvold and Gates through their Ventures group > are looking at some of these ideas. I published an interview with M last > year you may recall where he and Gates were confidently predicting they > had solved global warming, hurricanes and other problems. Predictions, > however are much easier than solutions, as Microsoft's Tuesday patch > e-mails regularly demonstrate. At least no mosquitoes were harmed in this > effort. > > 12. Finally, Ken has served on a number of panels and given interviews > where he has expressed skepticism and dismay over various OIF schemes. Now > it seems, he is in the business himself. I guess it's hard to keep from > biting the apples when your job is to inspect the orchard. > > http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-07/bill-gates-files-patent... > > Bored With PCs, Bill Gates Sets His Sights On Controlling the Weather > Microsoft's chairman is part of a joint patent filing for using fleets of > vessels to stop hurricanes via geoengineering > By Jeremy Hsu Posted 07.10.2009 at 12:11 pm 18 Comments > > Bill Gates' Plan to Stop Hurricanes: A diagram from one of the newly > disclosed Gates and Myhrvold patent filings, depicting a deployment of > hurricane-supression vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. via TechFlash > Truly this is the age of Greenfinger: Billionaire Bill Gates has patented > the idea to halt hurricanes by decreasing the surface temperature of the > ocean. > > The patent calls for a large fleet of specially equipped ships which would > mix warm water from the ocean surface with colder water down below, > according to five new patents that include Microsoft's chairman as a > co-inventor. That could then reduce or perhaps eliminate the heat-driven > condensation which hurricanes feed upon, thus significantly reducing their > intensity. > > Patent-watcher "theodp" first spotted the new patent filings, and told > TechFlash that the scheme reminded him of something Mr. Burns might have > concocted in "The Simpsons" -- if the fictional industrialist hadn't > already blown his master plan on blocking out the sun. > The hurricane-stopper plan apparently hatched from a meeting of > Intellectual Ventures, a patent house which regularly gathers scientists > and technologists to brainstorm together. TechFlash notes that the > official filings came through an Intellectual Ventures affiliate, Searete > LLC. > > One of the five patents also suggests how to pay > for the massive seagoing fleet, including selling insurance policies in > hurricane-prone areas -- so much for the billionaire backer. > > This represents just the latest in a long line of geoengineering proposals > aimed at taming Mother Nature, whether aimed at climate change or > hurricanes. Even the prestigious National Academy of Sciences held a > workshop in June on geoengineering, although that ended with disagreements > on whether the cure might be worse than the problem. > > We previously looked at other plans regarding hurricanes, such as sending > supersonic jets slicing into the eye of the giant storms. But for now, > it's likely that coastal cities should at least invest in more grounded > ideas to become hurricane-proof. > > http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=P... > > United States Patent Application 20090177569 > Kind Code A1 > Bowers; Jeffrey A. ; et al. July 9, 2009 > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Water alteration structure risk management or ecological alteration > management systems and methods > > Abstract > A method of managing risk includes selling individual insurance policies > regarding areas to be protected by storm suppression equipment. The method > discussed also includes finding at least one of purchase, operation, or > maintenance of the storm suppression equipment at least partially through > premiums collected from the selling. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Inventors: Bowers; Jeffrey A.; (Kirkland, WA) ; Caldeira; Kenneth G.; > (Campbell, CA) ; Chan; Alistair K.; (Stillwater, MN) ; Gates, III; William > H.; (Redmond, WA) ; Hyde; Roderick A.; (Redmond, WA) ; Ishikawa; Muriel > Y.; (Livermore, CA) ; Kare; Jordin T.; (Seattle, WA) ; Latham; John; > (Boulder, CO) ; Myhrvold; Nathan P.; (Medina, WA) ; Salter; Stephen H.; > (Edinburgh, GB) ; Tegreene; Clarence T.; (Bellevue, WA) ; Wood, JR.; > Lowell L.; (Bellevue, WA) > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_Current > > http://blogs.usatoday.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/20... > > http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dataphod1/work/HHP/NEW/2009139god26.png > > http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dataphod1/work/HHP/NEW/2007246atd26.png > > hurricane%20plan_0.jpg > 36KViewDownload > > weather_focus.jpg > 93KViewDownload > > 2009139god26.png > 257KViewDownload > > 2007246god26.png > 256KViewDownload > > 2007246atd26.png > 335KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. 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