Rogue Satellites and the weather

[LaurieAG]

A couple of years ago the New Scientist magazine had an article on rogue satellites flying in eliptical orbits because their parking orbit was disturbed by the moon. I cannot find this article by searching their site anymore.

 

The latest New Scientist issue has an article that says there are 47 satellites in eliptical orbits for polar passes (no mention of the 35 parked satellites that could become rogues (two were rogue then) mentioned in the earlier article) but these eliptical orbits are virtually identical to those referred to in the older article.

 

Satellites and space debris - space - 05 September 2007 - New Scientist Space

 

While the larger unidentified military satellites may dig a bit of a crater when they come in, surely a rogue satellite in an eliptical orbit could have some influence on the global weather systems.

 

In the late 1960's and early 1970's we experienced up to 9 cyclones per year in Queensland, while we have had only three since then. As the Pacific ocean is the dumping ground for obsolete satellites etc and various stages of the older rockets, it is disturbing to note that we have been getting many repeating weather patterns called 'Eastern Lows' that have the same power as cyclonic winds but only serve to create storm surges and channel moisture from the Coral/Tasman sea onto our shores. And then there are the "Western Bomb' storms that tear through and either produce lightning strikes that measure 2.3 on the Richter scale or just sit over the ocean like gigantic 'Boltzman Brains'. When you see two of them sitting around 20 kms apart with lightning flickering in the valleys created by their lobes, you really feel awestruck.

 

Even more disturbing is that these same 'dry' cyclones/hurricanes/typhoons are appearing off Brazil (whose scientists have no explanation for the phenomena). If you look at a globe, disregard the latitude and draw a horizontal line across from SE Queensland you will find that both of these 'spawning' points are very close to the line on opposite sides of the planet (incidentally the 'spawn' points for the Caribbean Hurricanes and the western pacific Typhoons (off the Phillipines) are also on opposite sides and are close to a similar northern hemisphere line).

 

Does anybody know of any research on these strange and unusual phenomenas? As far as I can remember, Rupert Murdoch (NEWSCORP) purchased many of the parked satellites (that could go rogue) along with the working ones before they 'disappeared'.

 

It would be strange if antipodal weather 'quatropoles' are developing in the earths atmosphere and nobody has noticed them before.

[DougF]

This is a very interesting concept and I'll have to research this to see if I can find any information on it.

 

Do you think the satellites in elliptical orbits and the weather storms are connected.

[LaurieAG]

Do you think the satellites in elliptical orbits and the weather storms are connected.

 

Hello Doug,

 

The earlier article explained how the elliptical orbits eventually end up with the satellite burning up on re-entry. The article didn't go into how many elliptical orbits the satellites went through before they did come in. As they can go around and 'bounce' if their re-entry angle is not correct it would be possible for the 'bounce' to occur in a similar spot or along the line of the decaying orbit.

 

While a satellites decaying orbit might explain the formation of the fierce storms coming in from the west (that wicked witch again, or a 'Fuji Wari' as one weather person commented at the time), the 4 spawning areas seem to be a result of a permanent influence on the atmosphere as they have been occurring on and off for at least the past 5 years or so now.

 

If you want to imagine a simple example (excluding relative atmospheric densities etc) try this experiment. Fill a straight sided bucket with water, take an object such as a piece of thin wire, place the tip of it in the water and run the wire continually around the edge of the bucket keeping the distance from the edge consistent. It doesn't take long before the small metal object gets all the water spinning.

 

Good luck with your research.