What is the relationship between military meteorology and war?

From China, Battle of Red Cliffs to Normandy landing in World War II, war and weather have always been inseparable.

Weather is a "double-edged sword" for military activities. Different weather conditions often have different effects on military activities. Even the same weather conditions, due to the correct use of commanders and troops, often produce different results. Liu Jun, director and senior engineer of the Meteorological and Hydrological Center of the General Staff Department, interpreted the relationship between weather and war from three aspects: meteorology, hydrology and space weather.

The Influence of Meteorology on War

Wind: Strong wind and strong vertical airflow are important factors that endanger the safety of aircraft flight and missile launch and affect the firing accuracy of artillery;

Clouds: Low clouds affect reconnaissance, shooting and dropping bombs. Cumulonimbus clouds pose a great threat to the safety of missiles, rocket launches and aircraft flights. Clouds can erode missile warheads that re-enter the atmosphere, thus enhancing or weakening the optical radiation effect of nuclear explosions;

Fog: Fog brings difficulties to the take-off and landing of aircraft, the formation navigation of ships, and the coordinated operations of arms and services. The fog layer will condense, precipitate and hydrolyze the chemical vapor, thus reducing the killing efficiency. Fog can also be used as a "natural smoke screen" to cover the combat operations of troops;

Precipitation: Heavy rain, heavy rain and continuous rainfall can cause mountain torrents, soil erosion, mudslides and other disasters, thus destroying military facilities. Rain and snow in Mao Mao will reduce visibility, and freezing rain will accumulate ice on aircraft, missile shells and radar antennas, which will affect performance.

Sandstorm: It can cause electromagnetic wave attenuation, interfere with radio communication and endanger weapons and equipment. Strong sandstorms can roll up sand and stones to form sand walls and push forward, making visibility close to zero.

A typical example-during the Three Kingdoms period, Zhou Yu ordered Zhuge Liang to make 65,438+10,000 spike arrows for three days. Zhuge Liang has answers. He prepared 20 warships, loaded with 1000 pieces of goods by sokcho, and sailed into Cao Ying in the fog. Cao Cao mistakenly thought that Zhou Yu was stealing camp and ordered to shoot arrows indiscriminately, so Zhuge Liang "borrowed" 654.38 million spike arrows.

In World War II, the US Third Fleet was hit by a strong typhoon, which killed about 800 people, destroyed 146 aircraft and sank many ships.

In the Iraq war in 2003, a strong sandstorm forced the US military plane to land or stop taking off, the communication network equipment was destroyed, two helicopters crashed, and all soldiers were "driven" into nearby foxholes, military vehicles and tents.

Influence of Hydrology on War

Wave: It can change the course and speed of a ship, even cause the hull to break, damage the harbor wharf, underwater engineering and coastal protection engineering, and affect the use of radar, the take-off and landing of seaplanes and carrier-based aircraft, mine laying, mine clearing, maritime replenishment, the use of ship-based weapons and life-saving salvage at sea. Small waves are beneficial for submarines to approach the enemy, while large waves affect torpedo launch and safe navigation of ships, which is not conducive to landing operations;

Tide: It is an important condition to know the time when the tide occurs, the water depth at high tide and low tide to ensure the safety of ships sailing, entering and leaving ports, passing through narrow waterways and shallow water areas. It is also an important factor that must be considered in the construction of military ports and aquatic airports, hydrographic survey, mine clearance, life-saving salvage, construction of coastal fortifications, organization of landing, anti-landing operations and underwater engineering construction.

Tide: In landing operations, the use of high tide to enter the downstream is conducive to the landing of troops; Sailing against the current will slow down the speed of the ship, prolong the time and increase the difficulty of landing. It is not suitable for mining, casting underwater obstacles and anchoring ships in strong tidal waters.

A typical war case-at the beginning of World War II, German submarines took advantage of the changes of British coastal tides to sneak into the ——flo port, a British naval base, sank nearly 30,000 tons of British flagship "Royal Oak" and returned safely.

1982 falklands war, wild waves accompanied by heavy rain, the British took the opportunity to recapture falklands. At the same time, however, due to heavy wind and waves and poor visibility, a British helicopter crashed and 2 1 person was killed.

The Influence of Space Weather on War

Impact on spacecraft: the upper atmospheric drag can reduce the kinetic energy of spacecraft, reduce the orbital height and shrink the orbit; High-energy charged particles in the universe constantly bombard the surface of spacecraft, which will cause radiation damage to spacecraft. Particles with higher energy can pass through electronic equipment, changing the data bits in the electronic signal string, causing the instrument to issue chaotic instructions or provide wrong data.

Influence on military electromagnetic communication, early warning, navigation and positioning: When disastrous weather occurs in space, radio communication and radar signal transmission will be affected, and satellite microwave communication will also reduce the communication quality due to ionospheric disturbance. Ionospheric scintillation will lead to GPS satellite navigation and positioning errors as high as tens to hundreds of meters, and even signal interruption;

The impact on the use of strategic weapons: when the solar burst causes severe disturbance of the upper atmosphere density, the actual trajectory of missile flight will seriously deviate from the predicted trajectory;

Impact on people: It is estimated that if the spacecraft flies in deep space or conducts extravehicular activities outside the magnetosphere, about one-tenth of the astronauts will be irradiated by lethal doses of high-energy charged particles.

Typical event-198212006 On 2 6 December, the visible and infrared scanning radiometer of the U.S. Geosynchronous Orbit Service -4 satellite failed 45 minutes after the high-energy protons emitted by the solar flare arrived, and finally it was completely damaged when a series of strong magnetic storms hit the California coast.

1During the space magnetic storm in March, 989, the radio communication in low latitudes almost completely failed, and the four navigation satellites of the US Navy were forced to stop effective service one year in advance, and the navigation systems of aircraft and ships failed.

In the early morning of April 3, 2000/kloc-0, the biggest solar X-ray burst in 25 years interrupted the user systems of short-wave communication and detection in China for about 3 hours.