China Deploys Rain-Seeding Drones To End Drought in Sichuan (bloomberg.com) 24
China is using two massive drones to seed rainclouds in Sichuan province to try to end a devastating drought that has choked power output and disrupted supply chains of global giants like Apple and Tesla. From a report: The China Meteorological Administration launched drones in northern and southeastern Sichuan on Thursday morning, and the aircraft will eventually cover an area of 6,000 square kilometers in operations lasting through Monday, state-owned CCTV reported. Seeding works by dropping an ice-forming agent like silver iodide into a cloud that already contains ample moisture. Rain droplets gather around the agent, gaining weight until they begin to fall. China has a long history of using the technology to water crop fields, cool blistering cities and make sure skies are clear for events like the Olympics.
Silver Iodide (Score:2)
Are there any consequences to raining water containing silver iodide down on crops, people, fish, etc?
Re: Silver Iodide (Score:2)
What could possibly go wrong?
Being killed by silver poisoning would not be noticed in the statistics. The risk of sudden flash floods is higher.
Re: (Score:3)
This is China we're talking about. The number of people who are killed by silver poisoning is zero. Official numbers from the CCP. You can trust the number!
Re:Silver Iodide (Score:5, Informative)
Are there any consequences to raining water containing silver iodide down on crops, people, fish, etc?
No. Silver iodide is an irritant. You don't want to eat the stuff by the spoonful. But China is spreading a few kilograms over 6000 sq km. So the concentration in the rainwater is infinitesimal.
Re: (Score:2)
the amount of silver iodide is truly minute compared to volume of water in a cloud being seeded. Here's a measurement done in Australia, 3 one hundred billionths of a gram per mL.
High concentration of of the salts in chronic exposure can cause issues but say putting ten percent solution drops in your eyes every day for weeks to combat certain types of infection does nothing at all.
https://journals.ametsoc.org/v... [ametsoc.org]
Re: (Score:2)
I'm wondering what are the consequences for other areas? They're squeezing moisture out of the atmosphere so that has to make other areas downwind drier right?
Be interesting to see how well that works (Score:2)
I know Cloud Seeding has been tried several times over here with at best mixed results.
https://weathermodificationhis... [weathermod...istory.com]
Re:Be interesting to see how well that works (Score:5, Interesting)
In Alberta insurance companies have been doing this for many years to prevent urban hail storms by getting the hail clouds to dump their precipitation before they can start forming hail. Seems to work as they dump millions into it every year.
Cloud seeding has been used for many years in North Dakota as well. https://www.swc.nd.gov/arb/ndc... [nd.gov] . Although some local farmers blame the activity for preventing rain in certain areas by causing it to dump in others. Apparently this seeding program has been operating continuously since the 1950s. The link I shared also has a map of other areas in the US that employ cloud seeding on a regular basis.
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
I don't get it (Score:1)
How will growing a tree in the clouds cause it to rain. Chia clouds?
Well THAT won't end badly.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Well THAT won't end badly.... (Score:2)
Or rain too much instead washing away all crops.
Re: (Score:2)
Or rain too much instead washing away all crops.
The terraced paddy-based agriculture used in Sichuan can absorb a lot of water.
Re:Well THAT won't end badly.... (Score:4, Informative)
So who's getting screwed?
The prevailing summer winds over Sichuan blow from south to north, so the areas deprived of moisture are northern China, Mongolia, and Siberia.
Re: (Score:1)
The issue is that large parts of northern China has been getting more rain than normal, but the Sichuan basin area hasn't been getting rain. https://public.wmo.int/en/medi... [wmo.int]
Not only that, northern parts of China are more used to drought like conditions, meanwhile Sichuan has tons of dams, etc., necessary for energy that is shipped out to other provinces.
Re: (Score:2)
The pacific ocean, so some fish are going to be pissed off thirsty.
Re: (Score:1)
Forcing it to rain in one location be definition means it's not going to be raining as much in another. So who's getting screwed?
The oceans, mostly.
Word on the street is (Score:4, Interesting)
that it at best increases rainfall by about 30% from clouds that are already going to produce rain.
Programs like this exist in the parts of the US (https://texasheritageforliving.com/weather-center/how-texas-cloud-seeding-program-helps-farmers/) and presumably the world over and are run heavily during *rainy* years to recharge underground aquifers and fill surface reservoirs for use during dry years. It doesn't end droughts.
Weather physics presumably works the same way over there as over here, so other than clickbait words like "drone" and pro-CCP propaganda cred, this article serves no purpose.
Silver Iodide Blues (Score:2)
Well, now, pay attention people
Just in case you hadn’t heard
There’s some folks messin’ ’round
With Mother Nature’s little world, baby
And what they do is really freaky
They gets themselves a plane
And they fly it around with chemicals, baby
Tryin’ ta make it rain
So when you’re out there in that blizzard,
Shiverin’ in the cold
Just look up to the sky
And thank the Government for the snow
And sing the low-down, experimental, cloud-seedin’,
Who-needs-’em-baby?
Rockets... NOT drones-wrong heading (Score:2)