Hurricanes may be spectacular from space but they cost many lives and cause serious damages. They are considered a force of nature that is inevitable and all we can do is minimize the damage. However there is an almost crazy idea by Dr. Arkadii I. Leonov from the University of Akron that wants to change all that. Dr. Leonov suggest with several patents he filled from 2007 that hurricanes can be stopped with the use of several supersonic aircrafts.---



The core idea is quite simple (maybe simple enough to work), two jet aircrafts fly supersonic in a spiral in the perimeter of the cyclone with opposite rotation. The sudden pressure drop caused from the shockwaves will disrupt the momentum of the cyclone and stop its development.

You can read all the details in the patent applications and especially in these pdf files: pdf1 pdf2



The idea is far fetched but its cost is non-significant if it can at least reduce the force of a hurricane. The aircrafts path may be very dangerous but remotely piloted aircrafts like QF-4 may be used.

The first photo is from Hurricane Isabel from ISS (link), the second one is 3d visualization from the patent sketches and the last, sketches from patent files.

via flightglobal.com