Rodney Blackall wrote:

In article ,
Peter Thomas wrote:
In message , Chrissou1973
writes

Is it theoretically possible to alter the weather - perhaps to use as a
weapon. There was an article on the internet about America supposedly
inserting certain chemicals into the atmostphere to divert hazardous
weather to targetted countries. Although I believe this to be fiction -
if theoretically possible - I would appreciate some assistance in
articulating this for a proposed novel i am researching... please note
- I am a complete novice so scientific responses in lay-man terms
please.

If we told you we'd have to kill you.

Of course a government could organise something that would alter the
weather temporarily; but the chance of "unintended consequences" would
inhibit any SANE organisation.

Changing the climate of an area is not so hard - just divert a couple of
big rivers and dry-up an inland sea (Aral, Caspian, Dead). Again the
effects might not be entirely what you wanted!



The proposed diversion of north-flowing rivers in the Soviet Union was a
worry in the late sixties. As they supplied most of the fresh water for the
Arctic, there was concern that ice cover would decrease.

Earlier still, the US military had investigated methods for melting the
Arctic ice. This would have involved some method for darkening the surface
of the ice to increase Summer melting. This would have had to have been
some type of biological agent that could grow through fresh snow-falls. If
the ice had been completely melted in a summer, the theory was that it
would not return. This idea was dropped for fear of the consequences. One
suggestion was that an ice-free Arctic Ocean, although giving surrounding
land masses a milder winter, would also provide more moisture for a lot
more snow and thus trigger a new ice-age.


--
Graham Davis
Bracknell