Weather Control Research

Significance of the Research

• In recent years, intense rainfall disasters caused by water vapor flux from the ocean have become increasingly frequent, resulting in severe damage in terrestrial areas. To mitigate these impacts, our team is developing a technology that induces heavy rainfall over the ocean by forming clusters of cumulonimbus clouds upstream, thereby significantly reducing atmospheric water vapor before it reaches land. Although direct human intervention in weather modification has its limitations, we aim to develop a feasible approach by leveraging the self-organization process in which one cumulonimbus cloud generates another. To implement this technology in society, we are also advancing social science research on legal frameworks and environmental risk assessments. Our goal is to establish socially acceptable weather control technologies by 2050.
• This research is being conducted as part of Goal 8 of the Moonshot Research & Development Program, a large-scale initiative led by Japan’s Cabinet Office. Professor Kotsuki serves as the Project Manager for this initiative.
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Reference

• Kawasaki, F. and Kotsuki, S.(2024): Leading the Lorenz-63 system toward the prescribed regime by model predictive control coupled with data assimilation. Nonlin. Processes Geophys. , 31, 319-333. doi: 10.5194/npg-31-319-2024
• Ouyang, M., Tokuda, K., and Kotsuki, S.(2023): Reducing manipulations in a control simulation experiment based on instability vectors with the Lorenz-63 model. Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 183–193. doi: 10.5194/npg-30-183-2023