Chaff/Radar Mystery

[Herbal Jaguar]

 

[Herbal Jaguar]

Now Massive Plumes Of Chaff Are Lighting Up Radar Over Maine and Florida Too

I'm neither a radar nor countermeasures guy, but this story has me fascinated. Assuming the chaff drops were not accidental, I can only think of four reasons to drop chaff over the US.

1) To test a chaff new deployment system,
2) To test the effectiveness of a new type chaff as a radar countermeasure,
3) To test a new radar (either search or targeting) system's ability to defeat chaff,
4) To conceal (or distract from) something in the air from radar.

The first three, or combinations thereof I suppose, could be anything from developmental/proof of concept testing to operational testing just prior to fielding whatever is being tested. Those test scenarios would probably be undertaken over/at an instrumented military test range, however, unless the purpose was to test against civilan air traffic or weather radars. Even if that were true, doing so in open air space would possibly create a fight safety hazard for commercial and general aviation. Not real bright, especially if no prior notice was given.

The last possibility is the most intriguing.

Some geoengineering ideas sound like something out of science fiction. One common idea is known as solar radiation management. This proposes spraying particles into the upper atmosphere that will reflect sun rays and thus have a cooling effect. But as strange as solar radiation management sounds, it has a firm scientific basis. The huge eruption of Mount Pinatubo sent 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. This resulted in average temperatures dropping by nearly one degree from 1991 to 1993.


Geoengineering is one way to fight climate change and cool the planet

 

[Herbal Jaguar]

"Despite its potential importance, however, geoengineering has yet to enter the popular consciousness."
Predictive programming/foreshadowing