Mad scientists have been trying to control the weather for
centuries, without much in the way of success. It's no mean feat (well, it's a
little mean), wrangling the clouds into doing your maleficent bidding. But
thanks to some recent work from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), I've come up with a weather-control scheme that's so simple, it'll turn
the other mad scientists green with envy - while it turns the ocean green with phytoplankton.Why phytoplankton? Because it turns out that the changes in
ocean color caused by concentrations of these drifting plants and plant-like
organisms could impact the formation of tropical storms in the
Pacific Ocean, according to a recent study by Anand Gnanadesikan at NOAA.  Whipping up tropical storms to terrorize the
Pacific Rim might have one easy step: "just add phytoplankton." Using a computer weather simulator, Gnanadesikan compared
the formation of tropical storms in the Pacific under today's phytoplankton
concentrations to conditions without any phytoplankton at all. What he
found was an overall decrease in tropical storms in a phytoplankton-free
digital Pacific.  The mechanism for this shift lies in phytoplankton's
ability to absorb sunlight, which heats up the water around it. Without phytoplankton,
the sun's rays penetrate deep into the ocean, leaving the surface water cold. Cool
water has less energy than warm water, produces less of the moist air needed to
build up tropical storms, and allows for stronger winds that can dissipate
thunderstorms before they turn into typhoons (what hurricanes are called in the
Pacific Ocean). All of this adds up to a Pacific Ocean that is less exciting
and deadly than the one we currently have.  And according to a recent study published in Nature, that
calmer, more boring ocean might be where we're heading. Phytoplankton levels
seem to have been decreasing worldwide for the last century, a trend whose
continuation could lead to a decrease in the frequency of tropical storms.

But what if the trend reversed itself and phytoplankton
concentrations started to increase? It stands to reason that increasing the phytoplankton
concentration in the Pacific Ocean – or worldwide, for that matter – could
increase surface water temperatures and generate conditions favorable for the
proliferation of tropical storms. And a world wracked by weather that I've created would
certainly be favorable conditions for my global takeover.  All I need to do is farm enormous quantities of phytoplankton
in the world's
oceans and watch as my verdant seas become breeding grounds for tropical
storms. Voilà: large-scale weather catastrophes without any fuss. I told you it
was easy.

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Mad scientist Eric
Schaffer has one index finger on the "fire death ray!" button and his
other index finger on the exciting pulse of scientific research. His accounts
of diabolical machinations, as well as research breakthroughs, appear regularly
on LiveScience.

https://www.livescience.com/environment/plankton-generate-tropical-storms-hurricanes-100816.html