Artificial Modification of Weather and Climate
| Author | R.C. Sutcliffe |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786500201201 |
| Published date | 01 October 1965 |
| Date | 01 October 1965 |
787
ARTIFICIAL
MODIFICATION
OF
WEATHER
AND
CLIMATE
R.
C.
SUTCLIFFE,
C.B.,
O.B.E.,
PH.D.,
F.R.S,
In
a
sense
I
suppose
it
can
be
argued
that
man
has
exerted
an
artificial
control
on
climate
ever
since
he
erected
structures
to
protect
himself
or
his
possessions
from
sun,
wind
or
rain,
or
used
fire
for
warmth,
and
so
to
that
extent
the
subject
of
this
article
has
no
novelty.
As
a
matter
of
fact
it
is
not
at
all
easy
to
define
just
what
one
does
mean
by
weather
and
even
less
easy
to
be
precise
about
climate
now
that
we
read
about
&dquo;microclimat-
ology&dquo;,
the
&dquo;climate
under
glass&dquo;
or
the
&dquo;climate
within
the
growing
crop&dquo;.
When
your
neighbour
plants
a
row
of
trees
to
protect
his
estate
from
the
cold
north
winds
and
incidentally
succeeds
in
excluding
the
sunshine
from
your
own
kitchen
garden
it
may
be
modification
with
a
vengeance,
and
we
have
then
a
bad
example
of
a
kind
of
small-scale
climatic
control
which
is
becoming
a
highly
developed
science
in
its
own
right
of
much
importance
to
agriculture
and
horticulture.
But
this
is
not
my
present
concern.
What
I
want
to
write
about
are
the
prospects
of
modifying
the
amount
of
clouds
in
the
sky,
the
amount
of
rainfall
reaching
the
ground,
the
wind,
temperature,
humidity
or
sunshine,
all
those
things
which
we
ordinarily
associate
with
a
weather
forecast
or
with
the
climate
of
a
district.
Individuals
and
peoples
through
the
ages
have
on
the
whole
been
prepared
to
accept
these
things
as
beyond
human
control.
Although
their
variations,
frequently
unwelcome,
have
seemed
to
leave
an
opening
for
the
influence
of
either
magic
or
prayer
there
has
been
no
scope
for
the.
scientist
or
engineer.
Indeed
the
whole
story
of
man,
or
even
of
life,
has
been
that
of
adaptation
to
weather
and
climate,
to
take
advantage
of
their
gifts,
especially
of
rain
and
sunshine,
to
take
shelter
from
their
violence,
of
storm
or
flood,
and
to
prepare
as
well
as
may
be
to
cope
with
their
extremes,
of
heat
or
cold
or
drought.
If
to
all
the
many
innovations
of
the
twentieth
century
way
of
life
we
are
to
add
the
artificial
modification
of
climate,
the
potentialities
are
immense
and
a
matter
of
the
greatest
public
interest.
Serious
minded
people
everywhere
will
want
to
know
where
we
stand.
At
the
risk
of
dashing
the
hopes
of
the
optimists
who
welcome
any
extension
of
human
powers,
I
may
perhaps
comfort
those
who
view
the
prospect
with
alarm
by
saying
that,
so
far,
no
scientist
of
standing
now
claims
that
he
can
confidently
see
a
specific
way
to
significant
achievement
in
this
field.
There
are
many
possibilities,
many
lines
of
approach,
but
they
are
difficult
to
pursue
and
their
outcome
is
as
yet
unpredictable.
The
position
is
potentially
dangerous,
for
scientists
given
their
head
are
sometimes
too
ready
to
take
risks
in
the
interests
of
scientific
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