Weather Jiu-Jitsu: Prospects for Atmospheric Nudging to Defuse the Impact of Catastrophic Weather Extremes

Extreme weather events, e.g., droughts, floods, heatwaves, freezes, increasingly challenge physical, financial, and social infrastructure as population and economic growth increase exposure and vulnerability. We propose supplementing conventional disaster risk management strategies with Weather Jiu-Jitsu, an approach that leverages the chaotic dynamics of weather systems to redirect or dissipate destructive trajectories through targeted, low-energy perturbations. Coupled with deep learning models, this framework could serve as a form of nature-assisted global infrastructure to reduce catastrophic climate-extreme impacts in the 21st century. We demonstrate the potential of this strategy through successful perturbation experiments applied to tropical cyclones, atmospheric rivers, freezes, and other high-impact events.