Artificial mountain range to capture hurricane moisture?

[ScienceNostalgia101]

So I was looking at the rainfall rates associated with Hurricane Agatha, and I thought "if only we could move that water just a few thousand kilometres further northwest..."

 

So what's stopping society from investing in an artificial mountain range, anchored to any common location shared by multiple hurricane tracks, to force the humidity from the hurricane to condense, with a crevice partway up the mountain to capture the rainwater and relocate it to wherever it is needed? Not that the water would necessarily be clean enough for human consumption, but being desalinized, would it not at least be useful for farming? Would it just be a one-time investment that would eventually pay for itself in desalinization for farming or would there be maintenance costs involved that prevent it from paying for itself even over the long term?

 

More semi-modestly, what about the idea of water pipelines along the North American coast? While I'm aware that hurricanes are of lower air pressure than their surroundings, would the water pressure in particular from a flood in one town along the pipeline force water toward drier towns along the pipeline? Or would that depend on whether or not the hurricane is already out of the vicinity?

[swansont]

1 hour ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

Would it just be a one-time investment that would eventually pay for itself in desalinization for farming

Show us the cost analysis. Show us anything that’s science and/or engineering and isn’t a WAG or plot from a bad sci-fi movie.

[ScienceNostalgia101]

Google search says desalinization costs 81 cents per cubic meter. However, I'm not even sure where to start on figuring out what maintenance would cost.

 

What would cause such a structure to require maintenance in the first place? Is there any material that could stay intact, or at least not be punctured to the point of filling with water and sinking, whether for being mistaken for food by animals or for any other reason?

 

I'm picturing a triangular prism, at least as wide as a hurricane, (angled to it to force upslope flow) meaning at least 5 surfaces, at least 3 of which would be hundreds of kilometres wide, with some means to securely and airtightly connect the surfaces after they are formed. Perhaps aluminum, with the sides smelted together? How thick would an aluminum surface need to be in order to not be accidentally punctured open by animals? Would it be malleable enough to bend, but not break, under wind stress, while otherwise maintaining a reasonably close approximation of a triangular prism?

Edited May 30, 2022 by ScienceNostalgia101
EDIT: Don't know what's going on with the font size. Trying again.

[Bufofrog]

13 hours ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

I'm picturing a triangular prism, at least as wide as a hurricane, (angled to it to force upslope flow) meaning at least 5 surfaces, at least 3 of which would be hundreds of kilometres wide, with some means to securely and airtightly connect the surfaces after they are formed. Perhaps aluminum, with the sides smelted together?

And it would need to be maybe 1000 meters high?  This would be insanely expensive and probably impossible to build with todays technology.  

[swansont]

14 hours ago, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

What would cause such a structure to require maintenance in the first place? Is there any material that could stay intact, or at least not be punctured to the point of filling with water and sinking, whether for being mistaken for food by animals or for any other reason?

 

I'm picturing a triangular prism, at least as wide as a hurricane, (angled to it to force upslope flow) meaning at least 5 surfaces, at least 3 of which would be hundreds of kilometres wide, with some means to securely and airtightly connect the surfaces after they are formed. Perhaps aluminum, with the sides smelted together? How thick would an aluminum surface need to be in order to not be accidentally punctured open by animals? Would it be malleable enough to bend, but not break, under wind stress, while otherwise maintaining a reasonably close approximation of a triangular prism?

How big would this be? And where does it go?

[J.C.MacSwell]

On 5/29/2022 at 7:43 PM, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

So I was looking at the rainfall rates associated with Hurricane Agatha, and I thought "if only we could move that water just a few thousand kilometres further northwest..."

 

So what's stopping society from investing in an artificial mountain range, anchored to any common location shared by multiple hurricane tracks, to force the humidity from the hurricane to condense, with a crevice partway up the mountain to capture the rainwater and relocate it to wherever it is needed? Not that the water would necessarily be clean enough for human consumption, but being desalinized, would it not at least be useful for farming? Would it just be a one-time investment that would eventually pay for itself in desalinization for farming or would there be maintenance costs involved that prevent it from paying for itself even over the long term?

 

+1 for an interesting concept. 

8 hours ago, Bufofrog said:

And it would need to be maybe 1000 meters high?  This would be insanely expensive and probably impossible to build with todays technology.  

Buildings are approaching that. No doubt you are correct with regard to expense, but consider if the landscape allowed a significant head start.

It need not be air tight, or angled, to provide a significant effect. Simply increasing the thickness of a boundary layer increases the effective shape.

On 5/29/2022 at 7:43 PM, ScienceNostalgia101 said:

More semi-modestly, what about the idea of water pipelines along the North American coast? While I'm aware that hurricanes are of lower air pressure than their surroundings, would the water pressure in particular from a flood in one town along the pipeline force water toward drier towns along the pipeline? Or would that depend on whether or not the hurricane is already out of the vicinity?

The pressure difference is almost negligible in terms of the head of water required to move a substantial amount of water any distance.