Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Artificial weather systems and scientific research

Options
  • 08-08-2014 1:54am
    #1
    tomcosgrave
    Registered Users Posts: 320 ✭✭


    Hi folks,

    This is one for people who have studied meteorology or work in the field I guess, and it might be an absolutely mad question, but here goes!

    Basically, I've been wondering if creating artificial and very weather systems in a specifically built environment has ever been attempted for the purposes of research?

    What I am thinking would be that, say for research into tropical cyclones, a facility would be built, with a large swimming pool type arrangement, and an environment created to simulate storms etc and leading to a cyclone that behaves in the same way as a real one - essentially, like the real thing but scaled down to a very small system.


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Iancar29
    Registered Users Posts: 5,068 ✭✭✭Iancar29


    tomcosgrave wrote: »
    Hi folks,

    This is one for people who have studied meteorology or work in the field I guess, and it might be an absolutely mad question, but here goes!

    Basically, I've been wondering if creating artificial and very weather systems in a specifically built environment has ever been attempted for the purposes of research?

    What I am thinking would be that, say for research into tropical cyclones, a facility would be built, with a large swimming pool type arrangement, and an environment created to simulate storms etc and leading to a cyclone that behaves in the same way as a real one - essentially, like the real thing but scaled down to a very small system.


    Unfortunately you can't just downscale huge weather systems like that .

    Its things like huge land/sea mass that fuels or kills a storm , the Coriolis effect and jet stream give us the organised storms .

    I do know of places though that do small things like snow clouds and researching how exactly snow is formed under different conditions.

    Just not huge scale things.


  • Options
    #3
    tomcosgrave
    Registered Users Posts: 320 ✭✭tomcosgrave


    Hi Ian,

    Could all those things not be simulated in some way? Surely a landmass could be created to scale, and jetstream effects also?

    Anyway you've answered the question on my mind - has it been done - and apparently, no. So I can put this to bed now ;-)


  • Options
    #4
    Harps
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,548 ✭✭✭Harps


    Large weather systems like hurricanes form when the mass of thunderstorm clusters becomes so great that they start spinning because of the coriolis effect, there's no way to really replicate that on a smaller scale.

    I know rain and snow clouds can be created though so it might be possible to replicate small thunderstorms


Advertisement