{"id":97826,"date":"2024-07-19T13:27:18","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T13:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/19\/twisters-asks-if-you-can-tame-a-tornado-we-have-the-answer\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T13:27:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T13:27:19","slug":"twisters-asks-if-you-can-tame-a-tornado-we-have-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/19\/twisters-asks-if-you-can-tame-a-tornado-we-have-the-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Twisters asks if you can &#8216;tame&#8217; a tornado. We have the answer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/071824_aw_science-twisters_inline_1030.jpg?resize=1030%2C431&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Twisters asks if you can &#8216;tame&#8217; a tornado. We have the answer\" title=\"Twisters asks if you can &#8216;tame&#8217; a tornado. We have the answer\" \/><\/div> \r\n<br><div style=\"clear:both\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.subscribe-cta {\n  color: black;\n  margin-top: 0px;\n  background-color: #D5DDEE;\n  background-size: cover;\n  padding: 20px;\n  border: 1px solid black;\n  border-top: 5px solid black;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n.centered {\n  text-align:center;\n  margin:auto;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n<!-- \/wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:group {\"className\":\"subscribe-cta\"} -->\n<div id=\"subscribeConversion\" class=\"wp-block-group subscribe-cta\"><!-- wp:heading {\"textAlign\":\"center\",\"style\":{\"typography\":{\"fontSize\":\"2em\"}}} -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:2em\">Take our AI Survey<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"center\",\"style\":{\"typography\":{\"fontSize\":\"1.1em\"}}} -->\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:1.1em\"><em>Science News <\/em>has partnered with <a href=\"https:\/\/trustingnews.org\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trusting News<\/a> to gather feedback on the potential use of AI in journalism. <strong>Currently, we do not publish any content produced by generative AI<\/strong> (see our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/about-science-news\/journalism-standards-practices#ai-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">policy<\/a>). We do want to hear your views on how <em>Science News<\/em> could use AI responsibly.  Let us know by participating in a short 10 question survey.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":\"20px\"} -->\n\n<!-- \/wp:spacer -->\n\n<!-- wp:buttons {\"className\":\"centered\",\"layout\":{\"type\":\"flex\",\"justifyContent\":\"center\"}} -->\n\n<!-- \/wp:buttons --><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:group -->\n\n\n<p>As in the previous film, <em>Twisters\u2019<\/em> protagonists want to help people affected by these highly destructive forces of nature. In the 1996 movie, Jo Harding, played by Helen Hunt, aimed to collect enough data to create an advanced warning system. In <em>Twisters<\/em>, the scientific stakes have escalated. Kate has a theory on how to destabilize or \u201ctame\u201d a tornado. But is such a thing possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Science News<\/em> went to the movies with Maria Molina, a meteorologist at the University of Maryland in College Park, to find out how much of <em>Twisters<\/em> is grounded in reality and how much is getting swept up in stormy storytelling. We also spoke with Kevin Kelleher, retired director of the Global Systems Laboratory at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Earth System Research Laboratories. He worked as the technical consultant on 1996\u2019s <em>Twister<\/em> and spent more than two years as the tornado consultant for <em>Twisters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, <em>Twisters<\/em> is a movie, so no one can realistically enter the theater thinking that this will be a perfect, scientifically accurate portrayal of weather phenomena that, in reality, we know so little about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven after 30 years from the first movie to now, we really don\u2019t know exactly how tornadoes form,\u201d Kelleher says. \u201cWe know how the rotation starts in mid- and upper-level sections of the storm and works its way down to the surface. But we know now that that\u2019s not the whole story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Molina still calls the movie fun, and she chuckled knowingly at some of the scientific elements she recognized along the way. \u201cThey did try to make quite a few things accurate,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Warning: Spoilers for <\/em>Twisters<em> below.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3141646\">Brandon Perea as Boone in <em>Twisters <\/em>leans out of a truck window to see a nearby tornado.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3141646\">\u00a9 Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>OK, so is it really possible to destabilize a tornado?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we first meet Kate, she and her research team attempt to tame a tornado by releasing a polyacrylate chemical into the tornado\u2019s funnel. According to Kate\u2019s theory, the chemical, a type of polymer, would absorb the moisture in the air that serves as fuel for the tornado, causing it to die down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think that was something that maybe, to me, was sort of making me cringe,\u201d Molina says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Kelleher admits that this is the most fantastical plot point of the movie. However, he explains that there is a basis to the idea. Certain polyacrylates are superabsorbent polymers that can hold up to 1,000 times their weight in water. In theory, if you injected enough of the polymer into the tornado\u2019s funnel, it would absorb moisture and the water would then fall to the ground, thus having some influence on the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOf course, it\u2019s a matter of scale,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t hardly imagine getting enough of this chemical in the storm to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naturally, a modified version of Kate\u2019s experiment works in the third act to save the day, but the <em>Twisters<\/em> characters acknowledge that their research still has a long way to go. Javi tells Kate that people may doubt her success and claim the tornado died on its own or tapered out due to a different extreme weather event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cScientifically, that\u2019s what I would say, right?\u201d Molina says. \u201cI\u2019d say, \u2018You don\u2019t have a control tornado to ensure that we understand every single bit of the dynamics in it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The movie scientists use radar to make 3-D models of tornadoes. Is that realistic?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most of the film, Javi and the team use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/thunderstorm-downburst-wind-danger-damage\">phased array radars<\/a>, or PARs, to capture scans of the tornadoes (<em>SN: 9\/4\/23<\/em>). They triangulate three PARs around each tornado to create a 3-D model so they can better understand how tornadoes form, which in turn leads to a better ability to predict storm formation and dissipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Molina, this was spot on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat was really cool,\u201d Molina says. \u201cSo from NOAA\u2019s National Severe Storms Laboratory, they have field crews that go out and get scans using [this] radar \u2026 [and] when they\u2019re trying to capture a supercell in the field, they do deploy three around it to get that full perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Twisters<\/em> obviously plays up the actual risk factor, according to Kelleher. In the movie, Javi\u2019s team of researchers brings the radars \u201cexceptionally close to the storm,\u201d placing them on the ground to get accurate data. In reality, most of these field radars would be much larger than how they are portrayed in the movie, allowing them to sit farther away from the storm, and would remain attached to the trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"Jm27YjLnPHc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Twisters | Official Trailer 2\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jm27YjLnPHc?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Here\u2019s the trailer for <em>Twisters<\/em> that briefly features a \u201cfirenado.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the deal with the fire tornado seen in the trailer? Could that actually happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/wildfires-make-their-own-weather-and-matters-fire-management\">fire tornado, or \u201cfirenado,\u201d<\/a> is featured briefly in the film, and unlike the infamous \u201csharknado\u201d of TV-movie fame, it \u201creally is not a stretch,\u201d Kelleher says (<em>SN: 9\/9\/18<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI actually liked that they put that in there,\u201d Molina says. \u201cIn California, there\u2019s been quite a few fires over the last several years. And there were reports of a firenado occurring as a result of the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kelleher also says that wildfires can form their own thunderstorms that may have the characteristics of supercell thunderstorms. Such storms have a strong, persistent updraft called a mesocyclone that can lead to tornadoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How does this movie handle the issue of climate change?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite being about extreme weather phenomena, <em>Twisters<\/em> never mentions the phrase \u201cclimate change.\u201d Kelleher explains that the studio wanted to sensitize folks to the risks \u201cwithout being preachy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, researchers don\u2019t quite know what to anticipate regarding tornadoes and climate change. According to Molina, it\u2019s unclear if there will be more tornadoes in the future due to changing climate conditions. The issue continually circles back to a lack of data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, decades\u2019 worth of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/more-tornadoes-are-popping-east-mississippi\">changing trends in tornado behavior<\/a> offer some clues (<em>SN: 10\/18\/18<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe trends are that the traditional Tornado Alley is expanding,\u201d Kelleher says. \u201cIt\u2019s not really leaving the traditional Tornado Alley, but it is expanding eastward into, you know, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama. And those tornadoes are looking and getting bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do scientists feel about self-taught storm chasers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike its 1996 predecessor, <em>Twisters <\/em>shows storm chasing from two very different perspectives:\u00a0the professionally trained research scientists and the self-taught enthusiasts in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith our phones, now everybody has ready access to radar data and most of the data that the meteorologists have, and so tornado chasing has become a huge thing,\u201d Kelleher says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Molina enjoyed seeing how many enthusiasts there were at the gas stations and hotels the protagonists visited and says that is pretty accurate to what the field looks like now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf someone is out chasing for fun and just because of their own curiosity, that\u2019s, you know, good for them,\u201d Molina says. \u201cThey\u2019re capturing video. We can use that video. We\u2019ve learned a lot about tornadoes through video.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Too many chasers in the field, however, can cause issues. A common complaint from researchers that Molina and Kelleher both point out is congested roads or traffic jams that can prevent scientists from setting up their field equipment or arriving on the scene on time. Molina mentions how this can sometimes lead to some of the unsafe driving <em>Twisters <\/em>portrayed between the two main chaser groups as they compete to see who arrived first at a storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kelleher also points out that the movie depicts the actions of people who, he believes, get too close to the storms and put themselves at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are exceptionally dangerous forces of nature you don\u2019t want to mess with at all,\u201d Kelleher says. \u201cSo do not try to think you can drive into a tornado and survive it. It\u2019s just not doable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/twisters-movie-tame-tornado-fire\">Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Take our AI Survey Science News has partnered with Trusting News to gather feedback on the potential use of AI in journalism. Currently, we do not publish any content produced by generative AI (see our policy). We do want to hear your views on how Science News could use AI responsibly. Let us know by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/071824_aw_science-twisters_inline_1030.jpg?resize=1030%2C431&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[9123,4047,4996,8888,82581],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97828,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97826\/revisions\/97828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}