Ambition to control the weather

The United States, China, India, and many other countries are spending millions of dollars each year on research or development projects for weather control technology.

Humans have always longed to control the weather. (Illustration: Flickr)

According to Business Insider, in the summer of 2016, China spent $30 million on a controversial project.as part of a campaign called "weather control technology"to fire projectiles filled with salt and minerals into the sky. China has used this technology at least once to prevent rain during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says that at least 52 countries are implementing weather control programs, 10 more than five years ago.

Starting in the 1940s, two scientists at General Electric in the United States conducted experiments to stimulate the growth of ice crystals in supercooled clouds atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire. This mountain, nicknamed the "storm mountain," was the ideal location for conducting experiments in frigid conditions. The two researchers successfully created artificial rain by firing silver iodide (AgI) pellets into the clouds. They received a patent for cloud-seeding technology in 1948.

The air always contains moisture, and even in hot, dry areas, water vapor remains suspended in the sky. Before it rains, the water vapor in the air cools and condenses on tiny particles (dust, smoke, etc.) in the atmosphere, forming clouds. When these water droplets or ice grow large and heavy enough, they fall and melt along the way, causing rain.

Cloud seeding techniques work on a similar principle. Scientists add chemicals to the cloud to lower its temperature and provide more condensation nuclei, which speeds up the rain-making process.

According to scientists, the biggest problem with cloud seeding is its effectiveness. Even with today's advanced technology, it is very difficult for people to distinguish between naturally occurring weather and weather created by cloud seeding.

"The question that's always asked is, if you don't sow clouds, will it rain?" said Alan Robock, a professor of geophysics at Rutgers University in the United States.

Despite much debate about how cloud seeding techniques work, several places around the world have used weather control technology to respond to climate change by creating large-scale changes in temperature and rainfall.

During the drought in California and several other Midwestern states, cloud seeding projects were implemented to increase rainfall, aiming to provide water for domestic use and agriculture.

According to Reuters, China's Ministry of Finance aims to use cloud seeding technology to create more than 60 billion clouds.³Additional rainfall has been implemented annually since 2020. In 2015, the Indian state of Maharashtra spent $4.5 million to induce rain using cloud seeding techniques during a prolonged and severe drought. In May 2016, the Russian government spent $1.3 million on a project aimed at preventing rain on International Labor Day.

According to VNE