the florida company dyn-o-mat and its ceo, peter cordani, proposed the use of a patented product it developed, called dyn-o-gel, to reduce the strength of hurricanes. the substance is a polymer in powder form (a polyacrylic acid derivative) which reportedly has the ability to absorb 1,500 times its own weight in water. the theory is that the polymer is dropped into clouds to remove their moisture and force the storm to use more energy to move the heavier water drops, thus helping to dissipate the storm. when the gel reaches the ocean surface, it is reportedly dissolved. peter cordani teamed up with mark daniels and victor miller, the owners of a government contracting aviation firm aerogroup which operated ex-military aircraft commercially. using a high altitude b-57 bomber, aerogroup tested the substance dropping 9,000 pounds from the b-57 aircraft's large bomb bay disbursing it into a large thunderstorm cell just off the east coast of florida. the tests were documented on film and made international news showing the storms were successfully removed on monitored doppler radar. in 2003, the program was shut down because of political pressure through noaa. numerical simulations performed by noaa showed however that it would not be a practical solution for large systems like a tropical cyclone.