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Bill Gates backs ‘Salter Sink,’ an attempt to tame hurricanes

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 4, 2010 at 8:13 am

Just because I found this interesting …. From the Palm Beach Daily News:

“He is a philanthropist, a business magnate and one of the world’s richest men. Now, Bill Gates wants to put a stop to hurricanes, or at the very least, make them a bit weaker.

The founder of Microsoft is backing an idea to reduce the strength of hurricanes by cooling sea surface temperatures. In a 2008 patent filing, Gates and his friends have come up with an idea to use a fleet of vessels that could pull up colder water from the ocean depths.

Hurricanes use the warm sea surface waters as fuel for their powerful engines. The warmer the water, the more powerful the fuel and, assuming all things are equal in the atmosphere; the more mighty the hurricane.

If, on the other hand, a hurricane or tropical storm moves across cooler ocean water the storm is likely to weaken. Gates and Stephen Salter, an emeritus professor of engineering design at the University of Edinburgh, think they may have found a way to draw up the chilly water from the ocean depths. … “

Continue reading this story at the Palm Beach Daily News by clicking here.

January 4, 2010 · Filed Under Weird & Wacky Water News

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