» Hurricane reduction

Coastal populations are doubling every 20-30 years, meaning in a few years time the death and damage toll from a hurricane like Katrina will be much greater. It is difficult to visualise so much money lost by these tragedies, not forgetting all the people who lost loved ones still suffering their ongoing loss.

Hurricane Katrina storm was a Category 5 hurricane that had diminished to Category 3-4 when it hit New Orleans. Other hurricanes have lost intensity as quickly too, proves vulnerability to weather modification efforts. The frailty of a Superstorm demonstrates optimum conditions must be present to form and sustain a hurricane; even with these factors present often hurricanes still do not form, making this weather phenomena hard to predict.

Augmet Superstorm operations will break up developing storms well before storms start intensifying and endangering lives and property. Both Hurricanes and Tornados forming clouds rise above 11 miles in height. These “storm factories” can be dissipated by Augmet, preventing the dangerous superstorms from forming and growing in intensity.

Unnecessary upgrades or repairs to infrastructure, lost work from damage to crops and required imports, and deaths cost. Hurricane Katrina’s damage cost $100+ billion: who can say how much in terms of lives? If Katrina had been averted, such money would have been used for other things. Initial Anti-Superstorm flights will employ long range aircraft to research activity and conduct trial operations. Unlike previous operations that probably increased Superstorm intensity inadvertently, Augmet Superstorm operations will assess conditions and get a feel for correct techniques - as well as aspects such as correct levels of dispersant - prior to providing fixed operational services, perhaps in as little as 2-3 years of experimental services.

» Tornado reduction

Tornados can do an enormous amount of damage in a short amount of time. By using weather modification the cost to life and property can be often averted. Flights are conducted to target developing systems during the seasonal months that bring a Tornado season. The clouds producing Tornados can be intercepted and dissipated individually using a similar process involved with dissipating hurricane development. Although not able to stop all Tornados, many of the storms producing tornados can be targeted, reducing the amount of Tornados over a given period.

Augmet research using fluid dynamics shows various aspects of tornado and hurricane mechanics. This understanding has not only shown how these storms originate, but also how to defeat them. Increases in wind speed increase damage: almost no damage occurs with 90km/hr winds, but at 110km/hr power-lines and trees are brought down and houses start to loose roofs, doubling damage costs.

» Acid rain reduction

Augmet offers a method to reduce the damage from nations suffering the effects of Acid rain. By reducing the amount of rain fall from weather systems originating from toxic locations upwind the net effect of acid rain can be lowered. Augmet aircraft will measure the acidity of moisture in flight prior to operations. These patrols will alert weather modification crews and operations will commence to stop rain should acid levels be too high. By delaying the rainfall from this area enables the clouds to break down and diminish the acidic water to more acceptable levels elsewhere.

Research is also being conducted on potential neutralizer or cleanser to reduce the effects of Acid rain and assist the atmospheric dissipation of ill-effects of pollution in general.

» Insurance

With ongoing success of Augmet, liability issues may those not investing in ways of preventing Super-storms. The aspect whether or not an insurance customer has done everything possible to avert a situation will begin to appear. Insurance companies will have less tolerance of not taking preventative measures should Augmet prove effective even if only reducing hazards. A similar situation is a seat belt worn or not worn affecting compensation payouts. compare the $100 million to Melbourne on the 6 March 2010 to $5 million anti-storm stand-by.

Imagine life without fire/ambulance/police services - this is how hopeless it feels facing extreme weather. Until now, there has no hope during such crisis periods. The price of devastating storms is too bigger burden both in lives and in material loss on humanity. With the frequency of hurricanes and violent storms increasing, Augmet is essential for the future.

» Project Storm-fury

The only effort to combat hurricanes was Project Storm-fury, funded by the U.S. Government for thirty years with restrictive guidelines. Missions centred on cloud seeding the outsides of storms formatting into hurricanes to reduce the pressure gradient producing the high wind. What was not known then was

1. Hurricanes do not operate as this effort thought.

2. Increased rainfall in any location in the vicinity of a hurricane increases the heat and energy of the storm, exacerbating conditions forming hurricanes, because condensation releases heat.

3. The main part of a hurricane forms outside the centre, known as a secondary eye-wall, becoming a larger storm if the inner eye-wall collapses, and Cloud seeding this area can intensify the hurricane.

Storm-fury was at least an effort to stop hurricanes; technology must be in place and invested into to evolve into a viable product, until now however, the correct information did not exist.