Here’s how China and UAE are manipulating weather
Don’t you think it would be fortunate to have rain during the drought and a sunny day in monsoon-prone regions? Well, now you can manipulate the weather with the help of science! China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have already done so! Yes, China manipulated the weather to have a cloudless day before a political event! How do you think they did it? Continue reading to find out!
Cloud seeding in China
Ahead of a political event, the Chinese government cleared the sky in Beijing. Who knew humans could clear the sky? They used a method called cloud seeding to create a sunny day while reducing pollution by two-thirds! Fascinating, right? According to WHO standards, the air quality improved from moderate to good after this action! But what exactly is cloud seeding? It is a method of dispersing chemicals into the air to promote cloud condensation. Cloud condensation is simply the accumulation of water droplets, which increases the likelihood of rainfall. As you may know, increased chances of rain indicate that clouds are clearing from the sky. Before the event, rockets were used to release silver iodine into the sky over Beijing. And in over two hours, the entire procedure was done.
If you are thinking that this was a one-off activity, then you are wrong. China has been experimenting with the weather for quite some time and has spent billions of dollars on this research. In 2008, China had altered the weather for the Olympic games too!
UAE’s rain enhancement project
While rain is induced to later obtain clear skies in China, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), rain is encouraged to address their water shortage. UAE is an arid country with low rainfall. Water is a pressing issue there, and research is being conducted rapidly to find a solution. The UAE Research Program for Rain enhancement Science was launched in 2015. The following year, UAE carried out 177 cloud seeding operations! These were carried out in the eastern mountain ranges near the Oman border to raise groundwater and reservoir levels. The UAE has seen significant improvements with cloud seeding and is working to improve the technique even further. Researchers have begun combining nanotechnology with the traditional method to create effective seeding materials. This could result in developing a chemical with the structure of ice at the nanoscale!
Does weather manipulation impact the environment?
It is critical to understand that the atmosphere has no boundaries. That is, changing the weather in one location may affect another differently. Cloud properties have also changed as a result of constant volcanic eruptions and air pollution. As a result, injecting more chemicals into the atmosphere may have unintended consequences. Cloud seeding may also contribute to global warming. Although more rainfall will cool the planet, it will create an imbalance that will take hundreds of years of continuous seeding to correct! Who knows what might happen to the climate in a hundred years?
Cloud seeding is a promising technique for addressing many environment issues, but more research is needed to ensure that such seeding generates very little impact on the planet.