Cloud Seeding - China Claims To Control The Clouds With Rockets

A recent Guardian article drew my attention to cloud seeding - not something I have ever heard about. Apparently "Saturday night China's meteorologists fired 186 explosive rockets loaded with chemicals to "seed" clouds and encourage snow to fall."

A brief history of cloud seeding

Vincent Schaefer discovered cloud seeding during experiments on a 1946 expedition to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. He found that by adding dry ice to supercooled water, he could change it into ice crystals. The same principle can be used by adding dry ice to clouds to produce snow or hail. His colleague Dr. Bernard Vonnegut found another way to seed clouds, by adding silver iodide to them.

Since then many countries around the world have experimented with cloud seeding. It has been proven to create rain in areas of Australia that would not have otherwise fallen. The US government has used the technology to try and modify hurricanes, though there is inconclusive evidence that it worked. The cloud can either be seeded from the ground using chemical generators, or by aircraft that fly through clouds and fire chemical rockets into them.

Other uses for cloud seeding are to reduce the amount of fog near airports, produce snow near ski resorts, and prevent rain for special events. China claimed to use cloud seeding to provide clear weather for the 2008 Beijing games, although this is disputed by some people. In October 2009 the Mayor of Moscow has promised a winter without snow, due to cloud seeding efforts.

Is cloud seeding a good idea?

To me the whole concept of altering the weather seems a bit crazy, and likely to end in disaster. But to dismiss the idea as black magic and make it a taboo is probably not a good idea. It is already facing opposition from many circles, but this will only push it further into the realms of scientific darkness.

There are currently many experiments in cloud seeding taking place that have not been published in the mainstream. With a more open approach, we can learn what problems this technology might be creating.

China's Neighbours have claimed they are 'stealing their rain', and it seems possible this would be the case. There is only so many clouds available for rainfall in each region. There are concerns over the chemical used during the process, and what effect they may have when falling on wildlife and people. Cloud seeding using dry ice, a form of carbon dioxide, is of course emitting more CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Published - Wed 4th Nov 2009 11:18:11