China will make it rain over an area 1.7 times the size of France

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China will make it rain over an area 1.7 times the size of France
Yi Shu NgJan 24, 2017

China is creating rain in an area 1.7 times the size of France.

The massive Asian country will spend 1.15 million yuan ($168 million) to modify weather in its parched northwestern provinces, in one of the country's biggest such programmes, the South China Morning Post reports.

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The China Meteorological Administration expects rainfall and snow to be increased over 960,000 sq km -- 10 percent of the country's territory -- if cloud seeding is successful.

The process will take three years, and China will buy four new planes, upgrade eight existing aircraft, develop nearly 900 rocket launch systems and connect 1,856 devices to digital control systems.

A Chinese soldier prepares to fire artillery shells for cloud seeding and rainmaking in 2010.
IMAGE: IMAGINECHINA / AP

China's northwestern provinces -- Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang -- is home to the country's largest deserts, experiencing little rain and is typically hot and dry during the summer and severely cold in winter.

To perform cloud seeding, aircraft and rockets penetrate clouds with catalysts such as dry ice or silver iodide, to induce or increase rainfall.

China has been relying on cloud seeding increasingly, to clear up its atmosphere for major events, or clearing up its perennial northern smog.

The US, in comparison spends about $15 million on cloud seeding per year.

In 2008, China launched over 1,100 rockets containing silver iodide into Beijing's skies before the Olympics opening ceremony to disperse clouds and keep the Olympics rain-free.

China has hopes that cloud-seeding can alleviate drought, and spent $150 million in a single cloud-seeding program in 2011. The U.S., in comparison reportedly spends about $15 million on cloud seeding per year.

According to the South China Morning Post, artificial rainfall enhancement has increased precipitation by 50 billion cubic meters from 2006 to 2016 -- roughly one and a half times the size of Lake Mead.

While cloud seeding is still regarded as relatively safe, some studies have cautioned that there is not enough long-term information on what happens to the cloud seeding chemicals once they disperse.

http://mashable.com/2017/01/24/china-cloud-seeding-program.amp

 

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China showers 1.15 billion yuan on rainmaking project for parched northwest

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 24 January, 2017, 8:02am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 24 January, 2017, 8:11am

China’s top economic planning agency has approved a 1.15 billion yuan (HK$1.3 billion) rainmaking project for the country’s dry northwestern provinces in one of the biggest government programmes to modify weather.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, a feasibility study by the China Meteorological Administration found that rainfall and snow could be increased in an area of 960,000 sq km, 10 per cent of the country’s territory, if the proposed investments were made.

The NDRC approved the budget to buy four new planes, upgrade eight existing aircraft, develop 897 rocket launch devices and connect 1,856 devices to digital control systems. The whole project will take three years.

The usual practice of making rain is to use aircraft or rockets to “seed” clouds with catalysts such as dry ice to induce or increase rainfall to relieve drought.

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But weather modification by firing chemicals into the clouds has become more frequent across the country in recent years for various purposes including improving weather for major public events to cooling hot air in summer. As smog becomes a problem for many cities, rainmaking has become a popular way to “clean up” the air.

Beijing also implemented a “development plan” for weather modification until 2020.

The mainland has a tradition of starting massive projects to influence or even control nature, often with mixed results.

Compared with on-the-ground projects such as large dams on major rivers, artificial rainfall enhancement is often regarded as less controversial.

How Chinese scientists hope to control the weather to nourish the mainland’s arid north

He Shengcun, an official at the Qinghai provincial government’s “weather influencing” office, told the China News Service that artificial rainfall enhancement had increased precipitation by 55 billion cubic metres from 2006 to 2016, equivalent to about 150 per cent of water contained in the Three Gorges reservoir.

The newly approved project is expected to help with “ecological security, water resource allocation, drought fighting and forest fire prevention” in Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, all of which are western regions plagued by water shortages.


http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2064729/china-showers-y115b-rainmaking-project-parched