A Norwegian company called OceanTherm claims that it has managed to develop a solution that can stop hurricanes before they get stronger. Called bubbles, the firm wants to use to cool down sea temperatures to cut off a hurricane’s supply of warm water, reports WFTX.

Since hurricanes usually “feed” off water 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher – letting them become bigger and more lethal – the idea is to cool them down to lower their power.

Cooling sea temperature could help the cause

 “I’m an old submariner and knew that the water is colder deeper down in the ocean,” OceanTerm CEO Olav Hollingsaeter said last year. “So my thought was, ‘why don’t we use this cold water in the deep sea mixed with the surface water and thereby reduce the sea surface temperature.’”

OceanTherm is working on what’s called a “bubble curtain” system to cool the sea temperature down. The contraption involves ships lowering several perforated pipes into the ocean in the path of a storm to produce bubbles to raise colder waters from deep below the surface.

The company also has a concept that involves placing the pipes in a fixed location below the ocean, as per the website, for areas that witness frequent hurricanes. While it sounds like an interesting concept, it is yet to be tested on an actual hurricane – so it’s unclear whether it would work properly in a real-life scenario.

The system yet to be tested in real life

To prevent a hurricane, the bubble curtain would be required to stretch miles in order to have an impact. While the company plans to use its solution across the Gulf of Mexico, but that’s still in theory right now. Besides, there would be environmental concerns that could emerge with the use of the tech.

“When you change one thing there is a domino effect of things that can occur,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric environmental engineer Tracy Fanara told WFTX. “With Florida red tide, you could be forcing an upwelling event that causes those cells to come from the bottom to up top.”