A scientist suggests that something akin to a colossal seagoing game of ring toss might be a way to reduce the strength of hurricanes and the death and destruction they cause.

The technique suggested by Kenneth Caldeira, climate scientist at Stanford University's Carnegie Institution, involves pumping warm water down from the ocean's surface and cooler water up from the depths to lower the ocean's surface temperature.

“If you can cool the ocean's surface, you take fuel away from the hurricane and decrease its power and strength,” Mr. Caldeira said in a video describing the concept on the SmartPlanet Web site.

The wave-driven pumps he envisions are simple devices, involving large floating rings with plastic skirts extending downward to the depths, where the water is cold. Waves overtopping a ring cause water inside to be pushed downward, causing a flow of cooler water toward the surface.

“These rings are capable of pumping really impressive amounts of heat downward and bringing huge amounts of cold water upward, and it just takes a few degrees of cooling to make all the difference in the strength of a hurricane,” said Mr. Caldeira, who also is a professor (by courtesy) at Stanford.

Mr. Caldeira, whose research on the ocean pumps is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, concedes that many rings would be needed to influence a hurricane's strength, and that such a project could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

But, he suggests, if the approach could save lives and reduce damage, it's worth studying.