Can UK scientists stop hurricanes with tyres?
5 Nov 2012 6:06 AM IST
Devastating tropical storms like Superstorm Sandy, which battered the US last week, could be weakened and rendered less lethal by using a simple and cheap technology based on old car tyres, scientists claim.
Stephen Salter, one of Britain's leading marine engineers from Edinburgh University, has patented with Microsoft billionaires Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold the idea of using thousands of tyres lashed together to support giant plastic tubes which extend 100 metre deep into the ocean.
Wave action on the ocean surface would force warm surface water down into the deeper ocean, 'The Observer' reported.
According to Salter, if non-return valves were used the result would be to mix the waters and cool the surface temperature of the ocean to under 26.5 degree Celsius - the critical temperature at which hurricanes form.
Stephen Salter, one of Britain's leading marine engineers from Edinburgh University, has patented with Microsoft billionaires Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold the idea of using thousands of tyres lashed together to support giant plastic tubes which extend 100 metre deep into the ocean.
Wave action on the ocean surface would force warm surface water down into the deeper ocean, 'The Observer' reported.
According to Salter, if non-return valves were used the result would be to mix the waters and cool the surface temperature of the ocean to under 26.5 degree Celsius - the critical temperature at which hurricanes form.
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