China began to intensify use of artificial rain to cope with the unprecedented drought Various local media have gathered this week, which has been affecting regions in the center of the country in recent days.
In this country, which is one of the countries that uses this system the most, the use of ‘cloud seeding’ technique to cause artificial rain is nothing new. However, the exceptional drought seems to trigger artificial rain, with some positive results in previous years.
Various meteorological departments in the provinces of Hubei (centre) and Hunan (centre) “cloud chasers” (specific planes) cause rain with rockets It accelerates precipitation by pouring condensing agents such as silver iodide into clouds.
At least in some cases the experience paid off. On the afternoon of August 17, Abundant and timely rain in a Hubei city effectively alleviated high temperatures and drought This has plagued the area since mid-summer.
For these precipitations, the “cloud hunters” in Xian’an County Rockets loaded with these chemicals over 500 kilometers.
Yu Xiaoyao, the daily head of the Taoyuan county meteorological bureau, said, “It is not so easy to increase the rains artificially, because since July 19, we are ready to ‘fire the ball’ when the time comes.” HunanDaily.
“The best artificial rain requires enough clouds in the sky, With layers 2 to 3 kilometers thick,” Yu added. Therefore, we had to wait for the right moment.
Taoyuan County began experiencing high temperatures and little rain in late July, reaching 41 degrees Celsius.
In the last two weeks, the accumulated precipitation in the district has been 3.3 mm, representing an annual decrease of 82.6 mm.
The drought in the entire Yangtze River Basin “has adversely affected the drinking water security of rural people and animals and the growth of crops,” the Ministry of Water Resources said Wednesday.
This unusual drought and an unprecedented heatwave in parts of central China has resulted in the suspension of operations at many factories amid threats of residential cuts and increased energy demand and production being unable to cope.
China’s action on artificial rain this summer is not an isolated thing, it is part of a long-term plan.
An ambitious program already underway
asian giant Two years ago, it announced an ambitious program to manipulate climatology in an area of at least 5.5 million square kilometers by 2025.. Basically, the method is to spray the clouds with silver iodide.
It’s not just about getting rain, it’s also about avoiding hail, which is harmful to agriculture. The goal of the plan is to “exceed 580,000 square kilometers of the area protected by hail containment operations” by that year, the Chinese government reported.
program It wants to provide services in the prevention of disasters, agricultural production, response to forest fires. and in the management of grasslands as well as unusually high temperatures or droughts.
China actually already used the cloud seeding system clear the atmosphere before big events are celebrated Like the Communist Party meetings in Beijing, the last one two summers ago. This reduces pollution in the city.
In addition, nearly 50,000 municipalities regularly cloud-seed crops to keep rain away before terrible hailstorms occur.
If government expectations are met, In four years, 60% of the country’s surface will be able to control precipitation. The consequences of climate change and the meteorology of the region are still a mystery.
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