• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Scientists Use ‘Butterfly Attractor’ To Control And Change The Weather

Home> Technology

Updated 14:37 28 Mar 2022 GMT+1Published 14:38 28 Mar 2022 GMT+1

Scientists Use ‘Butterfly Attractor’ To Control And Change The Weather

A new study claims that controlling the weather, once the stuff of sci-fi, may now be possible

Tom Fenton

Tom Fenton

It could soon be possible for the weather to be controlled and even modified using a series of computer simulations, researchers have announced.

Using a system called a 'butterfly attractor', scientists from the RIKEN Center for Computational Science now believe they have a way to better control the weather - which may help mitigate the effects of climate change in the future.

Famed mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz first posited the idea of the butterfly attractor. Lorenz's hypothesis is that even the most minute, butterfly-scale changes to his computer weather models caused a range of diverse meteorological outcomes, from bright skies to raging storms, with no way to predict the final outcome. 

Advert

This theory is colloquially known as the 'butterfly effect' today, whereby a seemingly small and innocuous action can have a massive knock on impact further down the line.

The study was published today.
Alamy

The RIKEN team has since started to properly investigate this theory by looking into whether it could be used to mitigate events like tropical storms and torrential rain.

Supercomputer simulations already allow scientists to predict the weather with a high level of accuracy, so influencing it could be the next great scientific stride forward.

Advert

“We have successfully built a new theory and methodology to study the controllability of weather,” said Takemasa Miyoshi of the RIKEN Center for Computational Science, who led the research team.

“Based on observing the system simulation experiments used in previous studies, we were able to design an experiment to investigate predictability, on the assumption that the true values (nature) cannot be changed, but rather that we can change the idea of what can be changed (the object to be controlled).”

Phase space of the three-variable Lorenz model.
EGU

Although weather predictions have reached high levels of accuracy thanks to supercomputer-based simulations and data assimilation, scientists have long hoped to be able to control the weather.

Advert

Climate change has intensified the need for development in this area, because of the increased risk of extreme weather events around the world.

While Miyoshi doesn't put a timescale on the development of such technology, he does allude to its future capabilities: "In the future, we plan to use actual weather models to study the possible controllability of weather," he states.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Weather, Technology, Science

Tom Fenton
Tom Fenton

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • $1.5 billion space probe captures never before seen view of the Sun that could change everything
  • Scientists reveal what the length of your fingers really says about you and it might be surprising
  • Harvard scientists issue heart disease and diabetes warning to anyone avoiding particular plant foods
  • Scientists discover first ever dolphin with 'thumbs' and reveal shocking reason why it could have happened

Choose your content:

23 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
  • 23 hours ago

    People left mind-blown after watching Hubble telescope image of a star exploding over 10,000,000 lightyears away

    One Redditor claimed the images were their 'favorites ever captured' in space

    Technology
  • a day ago

    Expert shares three jobs young people should start training to do now to beat AI in the future

    A new report has shown a drastic rise in the use of AI in the workforce

    Technology
  • 2 days ago

    Urgent warning issued for 86,000,000 mobile service customers to act now as hackers sell stolen data

    Cybersecurity experts have issued a warning to customers who are impacted

    Technology
  • 2 days ago

    James Webb Space Telescope's stunning image of 'Sombrero Galaxy' has people saying 'we can't be alone in the universe'

    Brace yourself for an existential crisis...

    Technology