Weather control

            Weather almost by definition is chaotic and despite its immense scale people throughout the ages has strived to control it, in modern times, with our near perfect understanding of the mechanisms of weather we have only just begun to influence its course. Hypothetically, at great energy expenditure the Federation could reasonably control the weather on any given planet, though the interference to the environment would clearly separate the effect as artificial. Instead some experiments have been made to influence weather patterns, to guide them rather than to force them, though success has been met in many projects, the fear of a catastrophic failure has pretty much limited this technology to terraforming projects, where the worlds carry less of a population and are already inhospitable.

            As the Federation will only commit a modest amount of energy to control weather patterns, the greatest problem is to foresee the coming weather patterns and know at what points a small change can influence the final outcome. Searching for these turning points requires a phenomenal amount of processing, though such computing power is not a great problem. The greater difficulty in simulation is getting the data for accurate models, although accurate maps of the land, and the composition of the atmosphere are relatively easy to obtain, all these factors must be updated continuously, so the computer must respond to every change in the landscape around it, this not only requires huge processing demands, but also flexibility and intuition, for these reasons AI’s have always had a close association with weather control projects. Artificial intelligences excel at handling the deluge of data coming from sensors across the landscape, and making good guesses fro the basis of weather modelling. Weather control is almost natural territory for artificial intelligences, they handle the bulk calculation without any thought, but the imaginative spin they can put on the higher processes in real time makes them truly masters.

            If the model is sufficiently accurate then the points on which the outcome depends can be targeted, these relatively small regions may only require very modest changes to completely change the course of the weather. These minute changes are allowed by the Federation, and although the machinery is still quite colossal, the energy required is not so very great. The basic engines for changing the weather are devices that change the temperature of the air, the accuracy of the modelling does not require any more elaborate machines. Though the task that the weather machines perform is relatively straightforward there is in use an amazing spectrum of different devices. Perhaps the most straight forward are thin film mirrors in orbit around the planet, these can be directed to increase the incoming energy on a particular point on the surface, or even to shield it by passing between it and the sun. Though the mirrors may tens of kilometres across these are not so amazing structures of modern space engineering, the technology to create ultra-light materials, and structures practically held together by forces alone have been well established. Though the space mirror devices are in common use there are other devices, often far more specific and localised, these include microwave beam emitters whose position is on the ground rather than in space. These devices simply heat the water vapour in the air by beams of directed microwaves, though this may conjure up ideas of ‘death rays’ the beam is very attenuated at only a short distance from the emitter, and poses little threat to avian fauna passing by. These machines need only be very subtle as their targets are practically at equilibrium between their two states. Microwave heating devices also need not form a widespread global network, as there often only a few pinch points in any climatic system and only these may be targeted.

            Another commonly used class of device atomises water to increase humidity. These devices only increase the effective area of evaporation rather than by boiling the water, which saves much energy. Most of these kinds of devices are effectively entirely mechanical in nature, little more than pumps and fine nozzles, though their scale is quite impressive. Unlike the microwave generators, which require an artificial power source (often supplied by fusion), the energy demands for these atomisers can be met by renewable energy. For example some atomisers get the required water pressure by hydraulic rams placed in rivers, or in tidal currents, others use the mechanical energy of wind turbines (the suitable wind can always be provided).

            With this relatively humble hardware a great deal of control can be taken over the weather, though it would still be correct in saying that we can still only guide the course of nature into the most favourable states, and because of that we can not easily influence it into changes that naturally do not occur. There does remain an important question to what degree the weather should be controlled, although it would be easy to lessen extreme weather, such as storms and hurricanes, the immediate benefit may still be lesser than the long term, as although storms damage and level they do promote regeneration of the environment, and of course play their part in shaping the landscape. The object of control would be to maintain the natural diversity of the weather whilst controlling enough for all to benefit. One example of this is that agriculture can be guaranteed suitable weather, which need not come at the expense of other flora.

            Weather control is likely to become more widespread, already the current methods may be replaced by advanced force field technology which has until now produced a most artificial effect if admittedly a powerful one. At the very least this technology removes the uncertainty of the weather, and allows more than just passive observation and forecasting.