"Tthe sun supplies more energy to Earth in an hour, than all the power stations combined produce in a year."

• Linear Vortexes
• Horizontal Ring Vortexes
• General Characteristics of HRVs
• A Combination of Forces
• The Mechanisms of the Ring Vortex
• The Mechanisms of the Cyclone
• Cyclone Genesis
• Two Powerful Vortex Phenomena

Linear Vortexes

As an energy phenomenon, the tornado needs no introduction. However, unless constantly supplied with energy from a ring vortex, the linear vortex of the tornado funnel will use up its energy within minutes at most and will then disperse. The linear vortex is responsible for most (smaller) tornados, squalls, micro-bursts and chaotic wind shear and does incredible damage.  Preventing them entirely or at least reducing their power would seem a worthwhile achievement but certainly requires that we understand the phenomena somewhat better than we do at present. To top

Most frequently forming horizontally at a frontal conjunction, a linear vortex can be constrained as a roll cloud if it forms in close association with the ground. Vortexes of this type, known as roll clouds can form when a cool air mass crosses a far warmer sea. The warm sea provides an energy-dense source of vapour but also acts as a constraining ‘ground barrier’. To top

Commonly identified in Australia in the late afternoon as Perth’s ‘Freemantle doctor’, Melbourne’s ‘Cool change’ and Sydney’s ‘Southerly Buster’, they may also occur shortly after dawn. The most dramatically beautiful and supreme example occurs shortly after dawn at certain times of year in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory of Australia when conditions are otherwise calm.. This unique phenomena, known as the  'Morning Glory'  sometimes stretches east to west across the sea for 1000km

However, a controlled linear vortex like the Morning Glory is definitely the exception. When Linear vortexes occur within a frontal conjunction between two differing air masses, the collision generates a horizontal linear vortex that is initiated far above the ground.  To top

Unconstrained by the close proximity of a suitable horizontal surface, the vortex will rapidly become extremely unstable and will wobble, tilt and break up into shorter sections. Predictably, within each section the cooler end will sink toward the ground as the unit as a whole seeks a more stable, vertical alignment. The event is commonly recorded on local radar as the characteristic ‘hook echo’ of a ‘string’ or ‘series’ tornado. This event, characteristic of a powerful frontal conjunction is most commonly seen in the central states of the USA.

There seems little chance these linear vortexes can usefully be contained but it may shortly be possible to limit their general frequency and/or strength. To top

Horizontal Ring Vortexes

Unlike linear vortexes, the HRV, in either of its two defined orientations, (ie the normal NRV and the inverted IRV), offers a number of possibilities for controlling the weather in all its forms as well as the means to extract unlimited usable energy from the air for all possible purposes, plus copious quantities of fresh water and an entirely new type of aircraft, that also promises almost unlimited potential. When the promises are realised, HRVs will provide the miracle technologies of our future. To top

Exactly like the ring vortexes blown by smokers to amuse a child, the horizontal vortex ring  (HRV) is an extremely stable phenomenon and remains so whether the vortex is blown vertically up or vertically down. Although both of these phenomena can grow to any size, the type of storm they create and their application is dramatically different and highly significant to this research. To top

NB It should be noted however, that should the axis of a ring vortex be tilted in any way for more than a few seconds, it will rapidly break down, often with extreme violence, into two counter-rotating linear vortexes. To top

General Characteristics of HRVs

Once formed, the behaviour of the horizontal ring vortex (HRV) can be dramatically altered if it is formed or positioned close to an associated ground plane. A simple experiment with smoke rings can demonstrate this attachment process and the fact the ring-to-groundplane combination is then potentially stable until tilted.

The attachment of the vortex ring to a flat surface occurs due to the speed of the air flowing between the vortex core and the surface. This attachment to a ground plane will occur irrespective of whether the air is flowing inwards or outwards from the centre. However, the attachment is stronger and more stable when the air is flowing outwards from the vortex centre. This in part may explain why a cyclone is so powerful and so stable and why conventional thunderstorms initially break free from the ground and climb high into the sky. To top

A Combination of Forces

When a vortex bubble is formed by the convection of vapour-laden air, it forms an INTERNALLY-driven normal ring vortex, an NRV. This NRV initially has high natural buoyancy but what happens next is determined by 5 main factors.

1.The air’s vapour content and thus its initial buoyancy.

2.The internal speed of vortex rotation.

3.The frictional contact of the vortex with the surrounding air.

4.The mass of the vortex as a unit as its relative humidity rises and, ultimately

5.By low pressure beneath the vortex created by its proximity to the ground and the speed of the inflowing wind. To top

Having formed, a buoyant vortex will rapidly bridge the gap between the ground and the Cloud Base Layer or Dew Point. In a simple storm, condensation at the cloud base creates an area of low pressure that increasingly raises the wind speed of vapour being drawn into the base of the storm. As it grows its increasing mass will ultimately allow the combined effects to suck the whole unit down to the ground, cutting off the vapour and quenching it and so stopping the storm from growing further and initiating its collapse..

In extreme circumstances  when the storm initially forms relatively high above the ground, the buoyancy of the air mass will delay this final collapse until long after the inflow has formed into the deadliest storm type of all, the supercell tornado. The supercell can be identified by its extreme size and a massive and generally ragged funnel cloud at its base. To top

The occurrence of the vapour build-up that leads to series and supercell tornados could conceivably by avoided by pro-actively triggering the formation of numerous smaller conventional storm cells over the whole area.

It is seen as something more than coincidence that an area of Louisiana ~400km in diameter on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico was once home to 20,000 small pyramids that just conceivably could have served this precise role. A similar area in Illinois, just north of the critical so-called Dry Line, was also once home to a similar deployment of 20,000 small pyramids. To top

It was originally assumed by archaeologists that these small 6m-10m pyramids were Indian burial mounds but serious doubt can now be cast on this assumption. Farmers illegally destroyed 95% of the mounds in search of potentially valuable burial goods. And although no one is likely to own up to it, the lack of burial goods in circulation rather suggests their efforts were largely fruitless. Indeed it would now seem these mounds should join the 99% of all other pyramids that archaeologists readily accept were never built as tombs. But what was their primary role if it was not for burials? To top

In a region where tornados are common and increasing in their strength and frequency, 39,000 small but ancient pyramids have been wilfully destroyed in recent decades, apparently for no good purpose. Is it too much to believe that the builders so long ago had some knowledge, since lost, about how to prevent tornados and that the destruction of these apparently innocent structures has just revealed precisely why they were built in the first place? The vortex mechanisms I have been working on suggest it might be so.  To top

The Mechanisms of the Ring Vortex

An Important Series of Thought Experiments

1. Imagine a wheel going along a road. When the axis is travelling at say 2kmh, the speed of the wheel’s at its point of contact with the road is zero and the top of the wheel is travelling forward at 4kmh. Now in your mind's eye turn the unit 90^o. With wheel now running up or down the wall, it should now be possible to visualise the situation within a ring vortex. It is important to note that the speed in the centre of the vortex is travelling at twice the speed of the unit as a whole and that, relative to the stationary ambient air, the speed of the outside of the vortex ring is at or close to zero. To top

Contact with the surrounding air provides the friction that allows the unit to drive either up or down the wall and this force can be added or subtracted from the unit’s total buoyancy.

2. The presence of a physical ‘ground plane barrier’ in very close proximity to the vortex ring will also act as a strong attractive force. Once established, regardless of the direction of the vortex’s internal rotation, this attractive force will always act to draw the vortex ring towards the so-called ‘ground plane’.  In Nature, this force can easily exceed 1tonne/m² and is only limited by the size and intensity of the vortex ring producing the effect.  NB It is worthy of note that the IRV that forms a cyclone’s eye can easily be 50-100 kilometres in diameter. To top

3. The one fact totally essential to the integrity of the vortex ring is that the ‘ground plane barrier’ must always be perfectly horizontal. Within seconds, even the slightest tilt that allows gravity to separate the hot air out from the cold within the vortex ring will see the ring break up, potentially with extreme violence. (As discussed later, the proviso about gravity is highly significant when it comes to usefully harnessing this energy)

4. With a little consideration it is clear that, provided it is perfectly horizontal, this ‘ground plane barrier’ could also be above the vortex ring and it could also be made of any surface or barrier material that in any way acts to control the overall motion of the vortex ring. It would certainly include water below the vortex ring and may also, I suggest, include a strong temperature inversion above the ring, as would occur when the vortex reached the Tropopause. To top

5.  As it climbs into the air, the jet being ejected upwards from the core of the vortex ring (see 6 above) is expelled at twice the speed of the unit as a whole. The core ejecta is nominally the fastest-moving air within the vortex unit and wind speeds within major storms have been clocked in excess of 250kmh. What can be produced by an artificial mechanism remains to proven.

Should the vortex ring somehow be stopped from rising or seriously slowed down, as occurs at the known inversion of the Tropopause layer, the rotational momentum will undoubtedly keep going and may thus generate a number of possible outcomes. To top

The Mechanisms of the Cyclone

The Tropopause is the ultimate force blocking the upward motion of a NRV within a Tropical Depression. The Tropopause is an inversion layer between the Troposphere and Stratosphere. Being, as its name suggests, a depression, the tropopause marking this divide is likely to be dished down at an angle to the horizontal and, as previously discussed, an angled ground plane barrier of any type is likely to be bad news for the integrity of a ring vortex. To top

It can (and has) been demonstrated that if the upward (or downward) momentum of a toroid is halted but not specifically tilted, it will cause a strong downdraft from all around the outside of the vortex ring as the ring tries to push up (or downwards) through the blocking layer. In the atmosphere, the rotational energy will also still continue generating a warm vertical jet of moist air from the vortex core that has the potential to penetrate upwards through the tropopause layer at significant speed. To top

Although this is pure conjecture, we know that any tilting of a vortex ring will cause it to rapidly break up into two counter-rotating vortexes. A collision with the sloping angle of a Tropical Depression would likely send cold air inwards and down and warm air outwards and up. Either and/or both of these events could be the trigger for cyclone genesis. To top

Cyclone Genesis

Although these blocking effects will disperse the energy of rotation quite rapidly, the upward jet may well generate a so-called Hot Tower (see fig 3 in side bar) that extends far above the Tropopause and potentially kilometres up into the Stratosphere above. Stripped of its accompanying ring vortex, this vertical jet will rapidly cool, freeze, and then drop back down through the Tropopause at significant speed. In doing so, it will create a powerful downdraught with sufficient momentum to ultimately hit the ground or the sea and splay outwards as a microburst to create an inverted ring vortex, an IRV.

Notably, although retaining much of its momentum this descending air will heat adiabatically and by the time it reaches the ground, will have warmed very significantly. As it then blasts outwards in a ring, the now-warm but still largely dry air will generate the release of an expanding ring of vapour from the surface of the sea. To top

A vapour ring created in this manner will generate convection to occur EXTERNAL to the vortex being created and so possibly become the externally-driven inverted ring vortex (IRV) of a cyclone’s eye. Once initiated, the outward flow and unusual (inverted) vortex rotation is pressed strongly to the ground by the frictional effects it generates with the surrounding air (as in 5 above). The centre of the vortex ring is fed by adiabatic heating and by increased evaporation from the sea due to the significantly lowered atmospheric pressure within the vortex ring.

Evidence that this is the mechanism triggering a cyclone can be seen in the recently discovered phenomenon of ‘Hot Towers’, a phenomena noted in  satellite thermal image photos taken by NASA from above Tropical Depressions minutes prior to the formation of a cyclone. To top

Two Powerful Vortex Phenomena

Ring vortexes trigger the phase-change reactions of water, vapour and ice in a controlled and/or controllable way within the atmosphere. Thus, as well as being the primary amplification mechanism that enables storms to build in their power, they also allow an engineering solution to harnessing that energy.

Both HRV’s, (the IRV and the NRV) allow the development of powerful but relatively simple mechanisms for harnessing the energy of storms. One, the NRV, is essentially automatic, the other, (the IRV), whilst potentially a more powerful phenomena, requires a specific radial flow mechanism to get it started.

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