Since the dawn of time, the causes and course of wars have varied. At first, wars broke out between tribes over camel races or an offensive line of poetry; however, today wars are almost exclusively waged to seize the lands and wealth of other countries or to take advantage of their strategic locations. Furthermore, weapons evolved from swords, spears, and catapults, to precise and complex deadly weapons of mass destruction.
With advancements in civil and military sciences, man strived to control natural phenomena, so we made the sky rain, invaded space, and we are still trying to reach things beyond our wildest imagination, turning science fiction into reality.
In this study, Al-Jundi Journal will try answering questions such as:
Have major countries already managed to control the climate?
Is there such a thing as hidden climate wars?
What is this terrible weapon?
What are the technical possibilities of acquiring it?
Controlling the rebellious nature
The basic idea of this weapon is to alter the natural balance of the Earth’s climate, utilizing and controlling the altered natural phenomena and harnessing the energy buried deep within the earth to influence the enemy’s country and obliterate every living human, animal, and plant on it.
Scientists don’t yet have the ability or the knowledge needed to control all natural phenomena, however, there are major strides being made in the geophysical sciences (seismology, meteorology, hydrology, geomagnetism … etc.), which led scientists to believe that the world is on the verge of controlling powerful new forms of energy, not unlike what happened in the 1930s with nuclear energy.
Scientists have concluded that the best way to exploit the energy that has been dormant deep in the earth for millions of years or the rapidly generated energy, is to discover unstable natural conditions that release higher than average stored energy, pushing this energy to a critical point using violent thrust (nuclear explosions) or through the introduction of catalysts that trigger the release of these dormant energies.
Weaponized Rain
Normally, cold clouds remain in an unstable state unless they are interspersed with tiny ice crystals that they can freeze around.
This freezing process leads to the release of local energy and heat, which trigger rising air currents that form raindrops that in turn form rain.
Currently, several countries are conducting experiments to stimulate artificial precipitation in dry areas.
These experiments depend on the use of an aircraft to seed the clouds with crystals of “silver powder” resembling ice crystals, to stimulate the condensation process of water vapor in the clouds, turning it into rain.
However, so far technical difficulties have rendered the process unfeasible, for example, the Americans tried to use this method in Vietnam, and between 1967 and 1972 the Pentagon spent $22 million to increase the rainfall rate on the “Ho Chi Minh Road” to make this road unsuitable for the passage of the Vietnamese guerrilla supply convoys.
The results of these experiments were not encouraging, which prompted the Americans to use acids in the process of seeding the clouds, to make the rain more corrosive to the rebels’ equipment and weapons, or even use a substance that increases the possibility of men and vehicles slipping on the mud resulting from the rain.
These were the first attempts to use rain as a weapon, by combining the processes of imitation and modification of natural phenomena.
On this basis, heavy rains can be used at the operational level to stop the advancement of the opponent’s forces and obstruct the movement of their convoys.
Rain could also be used strategically to create floods, spoil crops, expose the hostile country’s people to starvation, and force them to surrender.
Climate modification and mass murder
While stimulating the condensation of water vapor over enemy territory could lead to floods, using the same process to stimulate clouds coming from the sea before they reach the enemy’s sky leads to a decrease in the rate of rain in that country, ruining its climate, depriving it of moisture, and exposing its lands to drought.
Theoretically, any climate can be modified by seeding the upper layers of the atmosphere by a substance that absorbs sunlight falling on the ground, which lowers its surface temperature, or absorbs the heat radiated by the earth in a way that raises the air temperature and makes life impossible.
There are multiple ways to modify the climate of a specific area, including:
• Burning the target area with the sun’s ultraviolet rays, by creating a hole in the Ozone layer surrounding the earth at an altitude of 15-50 km, which absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays.
• Using dozens of nuclear bombs to destroy the glaciers in the Polar Regions, creating avalanches that lead to tsunamis that impact the coastlines of the enemy.
• Bombarding the surface of the sun with missiles that cause explosions and artificial solar flares powerful enough to trigger disturbances in the Earth’s climate.
• Blackening the surface of the Polar Regions in a manner that stimulates the absorption of enough heat to melt the ice, thereby raising sea levels, flooding large areas of the world, and wiping islands off the map.
Using hurricanes
Given that natural hurricanes have a massive destructive power equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs, and usually cause damages that amount to at least billions of dollars, scientists have always considered hurricanes to be the most appealing geophysical weapon.
Even though scientists are still unable to generate hurricanes, they hope to one day find a way to control and direct them.
Today, scientists can attenuate the severity of hurricanes in some areas, and it may be possible to suppress them with missiles dragging electric wires, or alternatively generate or direct them towards the target country.
The problem with using a hurricane is that it often occurs at times that don’t fit the used strategy against the enemy.
Therefore, it is impossible to use it at a specific time at the operational level, unless the occurrence of the hurricane coincides with the operation.
However, the possibility of using hurricanes strategically remains, because of the possibility of directing hurricanes towards the enemy’s country to weaken or destroy it economically before the start of military operations, and that destruction may be so severe to the extent that the military operation itself is unnecessary.
Destruction by earthquakes, volcanoes, and waves
The temperature of the Earth’s crust on land is higher compared to under the seas and oceans, and these differences in heat expressions generate tensions in the crust itself, reaching maximum levels in regions of abrupt temperature changes.
These tensions find outlets in natural fissures, releasing their energy outward in the form of earthquakes, and it is estimated that the energy released from the earth in this form every year is equal to about 200 megatons.
Therefore, it is theoretically possible to weaponize this energy and trigger the release all at once or in bursts, by creating artificial fissures in the right place (above the tension network), resulting in calculated artificial earthquakes in the target area.
Given the destructive power of nuclear explosions, we can weaken or breach the earth’s crust in enemy countries, to trigger a volcanic eruption.
Nuclear explosions could also be used to collapse a huge chunk of land into the sea, resulting in a tsunami (massive wave) that sweeps across the sea and destroys the opposite coastline.
Fact or Fiction
Is it theoretically possible to weaponize climate?
Many countries including Russia and the U.S are currently conducting research involving climate control, with the Russian research facility SURA located near Nizhny Novgorod and the American HAARP facility located in Alaska.
These facilities, according to some experts, are climate weapons that can alter the weather on a global scale, affecting natural processes in the ionosphere.
The American HAARP Complex
The U.S started building this complex as a huge facility in Alaska full of antennas, spanning 13 hectares.
Designed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as well as other scientists, this facility was officially built to study the Earth’s ionosphere.
The US Navy and Air Force have also participated in this project.
The Russian SURA Complex
For its part, Russia is working on controlling the climate through its more modest size SURA facility, which studies electromagnetism in the upper layers of the atmosphere within Russian territory.
Furthermore, there are many similar complexes conducting research based on the idea of altering the weather, causing earthquakes, and destroying satellites and warheads.
Conclusion
Even though geophysical weapons are a reality today, and can cause mass destruction, their use requires a huge amount of resources.
This is a lethal weapon the likes of which humanity has never known, as it uses the blind, rebellious, unavoidable, and destructive forces of nature.
Perhaps the most dangerous thing about this sort of weapon is the possibility of using it to strike the enemy undetected, without fear of retaliation, given that earthquakes, droughts, and volcanic eruptions don’t usually spark wars.
However, this weapon is inherently dangerous, and its user cannot fully control it, given that the power of nature is limitless, therefore mankind may never be fully able to control nature’s power even in the distant future, which makes this a double-edged sword that can just as likely kill the user.
Furthermore, when we consider the enormous danger of geophysical warfare on the entire planet and the possibility that the enemy could develop its own geophysical weapons, we can understand why the Conference on Disarmament took the decisive and quick decision to limit the use of the environment for military purposes.
By: Dr. Moeen Ahmed Mahmoud (researcher in political & strategic affairs)
