COLD WAR MAY SPAWN WEATHER-CONTROL RACE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP33-02415A000200350078-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 7, 1998
• Sequence Number: 78
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/09/07 : CIA-RDP33-02415A000200350078-5
U. S. Seriously Concerned
Cold War May Spawn
Weather-Control Race
By Nate Heseltine
Staff Reporter
The next hot fight on the Advisory Committee on;
cold-war front may well shape,Weather Control. The 4-year-i
up into an all-out seientifIceld'special committee Roes out;
race between this country and of existence on Der. 31.
Russia to work out ways to The committee. headed hs,'
,control the world's weather. Capt. froward T. Orville. USN;
American scientists are seri-
ously concerned that the So-
viets may win the race, gain-
ing a fair-weather monopoly
for themselves and weather
extremes for this continent.
retired. is not expected to ask;
its own continuation. It will
most likely recommend that
:its functions he turned over
to the National Science Foun-
dation with increased powers.
The report, still under
wraps, may not even mention
Russia, but its warnings will
be clear that if the United!
See CONTROL Al, Col. 1
The gun to alert the United'
States that the race is on is
expected to be fired at the
end of this month in the swan-
song report of the 11-member
Approved For Release 2001/09/07 : CIA-RDP33-02415A000200350078-5
For Release 2001/09/07 : CIA-Rop33-02415A000200350078-5
race toCoith.l Weather Seen as Next Cold-War Move
tea is to gain any mastery United States, leaving a trail Other, perhaps even more'er, or favorably alter the cli-, gen bomb scientist, bet(
r weather this country of heavy storm damage. Later
t pour money and brains detailed studies of the hurri-
meteorological research, cane's course showed that it
:scenting some mild bene- followed a normal pattern, and
reported from eloud.seed, that the cloud-seeding, if any,
techniques to induce rain-
. this country lacks ltd not le bcitanged its course
earch bases to backup the `'"`
nittedly wild conjectures Knowledge "Abysmal"
weather control more
itely called weather roodi-
'he- weather :,,:control
Ames range from methods
break up burrkanes nd
nados to others designed proposed to control or modify
change whole climates weather- As Reichelderfer
ry include: says, man's knowledge of the
Spraying vast areas of basic mechanics of weather
ar snowfields with lamp- is abysmal, and, he said, this
ek that would absorb is as true in Russia as it is
her that reflect sunshine torn this country.
It the icecaps. The Weather Bureau chief
Spreading c he in lc els said he has had as much if
The incident illustrates that
the present state of the sci-
ence of meterology is unpre-
pared to tackle the seemingly
wild schemes that have been
dire effects of man-made
weather changes, such as
those which might change the
patterns of prevailing winds
over earths surfaces, are un-
known for lack of basic infor-
mation of the mechanics of at-
mospheric motions.
A weather change that
might transform present des-
erts into farmlands also might
desolate present world bread-
baskets
Although the special Ad-
visory Committee on Weather
Control spent most of its
time and attentions on evalu-
ating rain-seeding efforts its
final report is, expected to
recommend that the Govern-
ment, through the National
Science Foundation, promote
basic research in meteorology
at a much greater rate than
eat over surfaces of the,not more contact with Soviet current studies.
..ibbean Sea and the Gulf of meteorologists as any weather- More specifically, the re-
xico to better induce eva-
ation processes and help
sun pull mountainous
kid!, of moisture from these
t ers.
Cutting off mountain tops
I otherwise leveling whole
iges of present peakS, a pro-
ious task that would change
ole climate patterns.
Towing Arctic ice fields
ithward in the oceans to
It and change ocean teen-
-aturts known to have im.
tont influences on the
rld's weather.
Heating up the polar fee-
ls with atomic oven heat
trees. The Antarctic is the
rid's present icebox, and if
doors were wedged open
li atomic heat world wind
man this side of the Iron Cur-
tain. Today's only cause for
concern, he said, is that Russia
is speeding up and expanding
basic research in meteorology,
training tar more new mete-
orologists today than are be-
ing attracted to the sciente in
the United States.
"The Rutstein, like us, have
carried on some modest cloud-
seeding experiments, with just
about the same results as we
have gotten," Reicheiderfer
said. "Neither they nor we
have any actual experiments
underway to drastically modi-
fy weather or weather pat-
terns."
The chief deterrent to ac-
tual attempts to change cli-
mate patterns is, of course,
e- real fear that such chant
port will undoubtedly call the
Nation's attention to the ur-
gent need for support of long-
term weather study projects.
Such studies, some requiring
years if not decades to com-
plete, are needed before man
can sensibly tamper with cli-
mate control.
Along these lines, the com-
mittee will likely ask that the
National Science Foundation
be given a free and liberal
hand to promote studies on
such subjects as:
? What natural processes
are involved in rain or snow
formation and precipitation?
? How do disturbances on
the surface of the sun affect
earth's weather?
? Which weather factors do,
a--
Sc
ire'
?s,
S Weather Bureau sci-
Ms next spring or fall. It
ild Involve spraying fuel
on the ocean surface along
side of a hurricane's move-
-it, and setting the oil on
he heat of the burning fuel,
ording to Francis W. Reich-
44g
kther bureau;'rnight alter
fury or at least change the
irse of the hurricane. Reich-
crier said he would recom-
nd a test of this idea on a
.size hurricane scale.
suits Uncertain
"ae ultimate. benefits of a
steeP away
rn ne said, curdy jus-
such tests.
hief Reichelderfer s a -I d
is some scientific' basis
dtering the beat pattern(
;iiirrleanes would draw airi
ulation from it s inner;
ill actually break up th
es. Whether this effect
il
Tirane, or slow it down, or;
nee its course remains to,
shown by the proposed
a.
onceivably. he admitted,11
burning fuel oil might In.
st,. a hurricane's forces, or
resulta might be too tin.
lictable for practical use.
cattier scientists still
go at reminders of the
T officially admitted hur-1
le-seeding experiment of
tortIkrafteix that attempt!
.reaktip It
Oita
raft
itoryo e Cille
nly veered Inta'Abei
Gulf Stream, whose warm
waters benefit both this coun-
try and the British Isles, is at
least theoretically possible.
But, as one meteorologist put
it, it would make no one happy
If in that diverting Washing.
ton got London's weather and
London Washington's.
Similarly, man's attempts to
entirielee won't at-
tempted until scientists can
forme with reasonable ac-
curacy what the overall ef-
fects of that melting will be.
One already estimated effect
Is that if all the ice around
both poles were turned to
water the ocean levels would
rise some 100 to 200 feet, inun-
dating coastal cities all over
the world?without and within
the Iron Curtain.
--weat/3
,111F
Whit 'give.
dos and hurricanes, and why,
do they behave as they do'
The answers to all of these
questions cannot be obtainedi
without basic research.
It would not be unreason-
able for the Committee tol
bolster its final report with re-
cent statements by a number
fpfaantiat:
States to go all out in weather
control studies.
Vannevar Bush. now chair-
man of the corporation of the
Massachusetts Institute o f
Technology and wartime head
of the Office of Scientific Re-
search and Development, on
Dec. 2 stated:
"We do not know whether
it will be practically feasible
for man to control the wrath
mate in which he lives ,
is entirely possible, were he
wise enough, that he could'
produce favorable effects, per-I
haps of enormous practical.
significance, transforming his
environment to render It more
salutary for his purposes.
"By all means let us get at
it."
Says Control Essential
Henry G. Houghton, MIT,
meteorologist, speaking on the'
need fo come up first with thel
answers to weather control,
told the First National Con-I
ference on, Applied Meteorol-:
ogy:
"I shudder to think of theI
consequences of a prior Rus-
sian discovery of a feasible
method of weather control
International control of
eather modification \Ail] be
essential to the safety of toe
world as control of nuclear
energy now is.
"Unless we remain ahead of
or abreast of Russia in meteor-
ology - research the prospects
for international agreements
on weather control will be
poor indeed."
Perhaps ,the Advisory Com-
mittee will remind those it
seeks to influence of the words
of Edward Teller, the hydro
Approved For Release 2001/09/07 : CIA-RDP33-02415A000200350078-5
Ncv. 25 session of the
Military Preparedness
Said Teller' 'Please H
55, or al in which the RI
can control weather ir
scale ?there they can
be rainfall over Russ
that?and here I am
a .)out a very definite c,
--might very well in
-he rainfall in our coo
an adverse manner. Th
say, we don't care.
sorry if we hurt you. '
mcre:y trying to do
need to do in order to
people live "
The late atomic mai
clan, Johi. von Neu roar
diseus!.ion f,n the fart,
fects could be I);
'it cuanging climate p
,declared
"Pronab,v irte!,(4.,;)
tnnsi horn. and ,11rnate
will come Ir. fey,
and will unfold 'iii
ticult to imagine A 1 o
Such ,ntervention
would merge each
affairs with those ro
other more thorough;
the threat of a nuclear
other war may &tree(
done."
lhe next war
truly atmospheric.