In an effort to ease the drought conditions plaguing the Yangtze River region, China is apparently preparing to utilize cloud-seeding technology to make it rain, according to Newsweek. This comes amid high temperatures that have hindered agricultural development and required the shutdown of factories in order to conserve energy.
Rainfall History in China
Currently, the hottest summer on record is causing the Yangtze River to dry up in certain places, prompting the government to issue an emergency warning about the approaching harvest and urge local officials to use water sparingly.
According to the provincial branch of state grid, reported by state news agency Xinhua, Sichuan has had 51 percent less rainfall than in previous years. China produces around 75% of its yearly grain output in the fall, according to People's Daily Online.
What is Cloud Seeding?
The practice of cloud seeding is used all over the world to augment the local communities' natural water supply by increasing winter snowfall and mountain snowpack.
By releasing silver iodide from aircraft into the clouds, a practice known as cloud seeding can make an artificial rain. According to scientists, this type of geoengineering could be used in the future to mitigate the consequences of climate change on the world.
In order to increase a cloud's capacity to create rain, the cloud-seeding technique introduces a nucleation point for raindrops to gather around. According to the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the substance sprayed into the clouds, silver iodide, naturally occurs in the environment at low concentrations.
Although several studies have also concluded that seeding has little effect on precipitation, some research into cloud seeding has discovered that after being seeded with silver iodide, clouds produce snow and rain at a rate of about 15% more.
Benefits of Cloud Seeding
Cloud seeding's success varies from project to project. Yet, it has been demonstrated that long-term cloud seeding programs over the mountains of Nevada and other regions of the world can enhance the area's overall snowfall by 10% or more each year.
A five-year cloud seeding effort developed by DRI at a study site in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, led to a 14% increase in snowfall throughout the project area. At the 97 percent confidence level, it was demonstrated that cloud seeding was responsible for the increased snowfall.
Effects of Silver Iodide in Environment Present in CloudSeeding
There are worries that the toxic silver ion from the silver iodide may be hazardous to human and animal life. There is a possibility for bioaccumulation in aquatic life, contrary to certain research findings that silver iodide is not biochemically accessible. They demonstrate that even though iodide levels are generally modest, they have exceeded health limits in places where people have been exposed to them often.
In a comment in reference to solar radiation modification, Doug MacMartin, a senior research fellow at Cornell University's Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, suggested that we may have passed the point of easy solutions. Yet, he said that we must weigh the dangers of using this technology against the risks of not using it in order to give decision-makers in the future the greatest possible information.
RELATED ARTICLE: Dubai Uses Cloud Seeding Technology to Produce Rain and Combat Sweltering 122ºF Heat
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