What if ... ? - Opinion - The Times-Tribune:

"Or is there? Dr. Stephen H. Salter, through a company called Intellectual Ventures, has devised the Salter Sink. Basically a 500-foot funnel with a one-way valve, attached to a flotation device, the sink would operate on the power of the ocean itself, in reaction to waves and swells. As 82-degree surface water spilled into the device, the funnel would carry it to the 50-degree depths below. The waters of various temperatures would mix.

Scientists say that even a 1-degree centigrade difference in surface temperature could be the difference between the formation of a hurricane, or between a Category 4 or 5 storm.

Deployment of thousands of inexpensive Salter Sinks in the Atlantic off Africa's west coast, where hurricanes form, is an experiment worth trying. It would cost a fraction of the money spent to fix hurricane damage. There is the risk, of course, that it will prove a folly. But the potential reward far exceeds the potential embarrassment."