Has China Mastered Weather Modification? Should We Worry?

BBSA

BBSA

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Last month, 16 “artificial rain enhancement rockets” were launched off the back of a pickup truck 300 miles south of Beijing. The operation, ordered up by the Juye County Meteorological Bureau in response to a local drought, was reportedly a success. Over the next 24 hours, the county received more than two inches of rain that, according to local officials, alleviated the drought, lowered the risk of forest fires and improved air quality.

 
inb4 the china haters start shooting bias from the hip.

That aside, it should be a global worry if a bad actor uses it for nefarious purposes. Research in this hopefully propels terraforming technology so that planet colonization becomes realistic on a grand scale.
 
They used to do it often in Central Thailand when I lived there, it was called Royal Rain Making as it was a project started by their king at the time. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. If it resulted in decent rainfall then things were fine, but they mostly used a silver nitrate/talcum powder mix which sometimes left an after-taste and powdery residue if it only resulted in light drizzles.

They also do it extensively in Tanzania. I reckon it has a small effect on forcing the clouds to release water.
 
Pretty much every country has been messing around with cloud seeding for decades, with limited success. Basically, the only thing it can really do is cause certain types of cloud to be more likely to precipitate, but those clouds have to be there in the first place.
 
...anyone bothered to think what kind of effect does it have on the natural balance? All good and well to be able to make rain on command.... there is natural balance to everything ... that will always try to correct an imbalance... clouds being seeded are heading somewhere to produce rain in another region/part of the world...?
 
Mystic Twilight said:
inb4 the china haters start shooting bias from the hip.

That aside, it should be a global worry if a bad actor uses it for nefarious purposes. Research in this hopefully propels terraforming technology so that planet colonization becomes realistic on a grand scale.
Click to expand...
...and owned by China :ROFL:
 
South Africa , was actually a leading light in the field of cloud seeding starting in the 1980's, through the 90's and into this century.
www.engineeringnews.co.za

Engineering News - SA's rain-making system may soon be back on track

Engineering News Online provides real time news reportage through originated written,video and audio material. Each week,an average of 240 899-page impressions are generated by over 64 719 online readers.
www.engineeringnews.co.za www.engineeringnews.co.za
 
In future, please don't link AMP links. :(
Also, talking about rockets, but showing what looks like AA installation - eish, journalism.
 
I watched the movie. Wasn't that good. I think it was called Geostorm.
 
Well I have no official proof but it was the talk of town back in the days when tabocco was still plenty around Barberton. When it looks like it was about to rain and there was a threat of hail, planes could be seen flying around and the rain was gone. So legend has it we've been doing this long before.

Truthful? No idea? Just sharing some tidbit I got from my family up there
 
yebocan said:
...anyone bothered to think what kind of effect does it have on the natural balance? All good and well to be able to make rain on command.... there is natural balance to everything ... that will always try to correct an imbalance... clouds being seeded are heading somewhere to produce rain in another region/part of the world...?
Click to expand...

I don't think that would be an issue because precipitation is constantly moving in and out of form, just not always reaching the correct conditions for rain to propagate. And often clouds blow off the land mass and into the sea, having more of the cloud water being deposited first on land would be a good thing.

But I'm sure the pollution from wide scale use of the seeding formula would have an accumulative effect and damage the ecosystem.
 
gertvanjoe said:
Well I have no official proof but it was the talk of town back in the days when tabocco was still plenty around Barberton. When it looks like it was about to rain and there was a threat of hail, planes could be seen flying around and the rain was gone. So legend has it we've been doing this long before.

Truthful? No idea? Just sharing some tidbit I got from my family up there
Click to expand...
I was not going to mention that, also because I have no proof. But that was discussed in the late 70's. So yes, roll back a bit.
 
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