JMSJ Highlights
Editor's Highlight : Abe et al. (2025)
Abe, M., H. Fudeyasu, and M. Sasaoka, 2025: Historical review of research activities toward typhoons/hurricanes modification in Japan and the United States.
J. Meteor. Soc. Japan
,
103
.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2025-015
Early Online Release
Graphical Abstract
Editor in charge: Satoki Tsujino
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I highlight this paper which is a historical review of research activities for tropical cyclone modification in Japan and the United States from 1940s, in order to reconsider feasibility of typhoon modification. (Editor in charge: Satoki Tsujino)
- In the United States, in spite of continuous research activities of hurricane modification from 1940s, two scientific discoveries in 1980s—the absence of supercooled water droplets and the observed reformation of the eyewall in non-seeding hurricanes—led to the rejection of hurricane modification based on the cloud seeding, resulting in the termination of field experiments.
- In Japan, after Typhoon Vera (1959), the government acknowledged the need for typhoon modification research but ultimately opposed the experiments due to scientific and social concerns, especially the inability to set satisfactory criteria to ensure safety on land during the experiments.
Abstract
This study summarizes the discussions on typhoons or hurricanes modification in Japan and the United States (US) from the 1940s to the present, based on a survey of past literature and interviews with relevant personnel. Research on hurricane modification began approximately 80 years ago with Project Cirrus (1947–1952) and Project Stormfury (1962–1983) run by the US government. This project was initiated following a US proposal to Japan in 1965, which aimed to conduct field experiments using cloud seeding techniques for typhoons over the western North Pacific. The proposal sparked in-depth discussions in both academia and the National Diet of Japan. In 1971, the typhoon committee conditionally approved the field experiment in the western North Pacific, but ultimately, the typhoon field experiment was not conducted. This paper identifies the factors that led to the decision not to proceed with the typhoon field experiment despite significant progress, as well as the reasons underlying the decline of typhoon modification and general weather modification research in Japan from that period onward.