Ambition to control the weather

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

Humans have always wanted to control the weather. Illustration: Flickr.

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

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

In the 1940s, two scientists at General Electric, USA, conducted experiments to stimulate the growth of ice crystals in super-cold clouds on the top of Mount Washington in the state of New Hampshire. This mountain, known as "Storm Mountain", is the best place to conduct experiments in cold conditions. The two researchers succeeded in creating artificial rain by using bullets containing silver iodide (AgI) fired into the clouds. They received a patent for cloud-seeding technique in 1948.

The air always contains moisture, and even hot, dry land has some water vapor floating 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 the water droplets or ice become large and heavy enough, they fall and melt along the way, causing rain.

Cloud seeding works on a similar principle. Scientists add chemicals to the clouds to lower their temperature and provide more condensation nuclei, which makes the rain-making process happen faster.

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

“The question is always, if you don't seed clouds, will it rain?” said Alan Robock, a professor of geophysics at Rutgers University in the US.

Although there is much debate about how cloud seeding works, several places around the world have used weather-modifying technology to combat climate change by creating large-scale changes in temperature and rainfall.

During the drought in California and some states in the US Midwest, cloud seeding projects were applied to increase rainfall to provide water for daily life and agricultural cultivation.

According to Reuters, China's Ministry of Finance aims to use cloud seeding technology to create more than 60 billion m³additional rainfall each year starting in 2020. In 2015, the Indian state of Maharashtra spent $4.5 million to induce rain through cloud seeding during a severe, prolonged drought. In May 2016, the Russian government spent $1.3 million on a project to prevent rain on May Day.

According to VNE