How cloud seeding works
Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique.
This involves introducing tiny particles into clouds to change their precipitation patterns.
These particles, known as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) or ice nuclei,
Its act as seeds around which water droplets or ice crystals can form.
There are two main types of cloud seeding:
Warm cloud seeding: This type of seeding is used to increase rainfall from warm clouds, which are clouds that are above freezing temperature.
Warm cloud seeding is typically done by spraying silver iodide or dry ice into the clouds.
The silver iodide or dry ice particles act as CCN, which causes water droplets to form and grow larger.
Cold cloud seeding: This type of seeding is used to increase snowfall from cold clouds, which are clouds that are below freezing temperature. Cold cloud seeding is typically done by spraying dry ice or silver iodide into the clouds. The dry ice or silver iodide particles act as ice nuclei, which causes water droplets to freeze and form ice crystals.
Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment(CAIPEEX)
CAIPEEX is a national experiment conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
Its under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.
It is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary program that aims to understand the complex interplay between clouds, aerosols, and precipitation, and to develop and test new techniques for precipitation enhancement.
Phase I: (2009-2010) - This phase focused on understanding the cloud microphysics and aerosol characteristics over different regions of India during the monsoon season.
Phase II: (2011-2013) - This phase focused on conducting cloud seeding experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of different seeding techniques in enhancing precipitation.
Phase III: (2014-present) - This phase is focused on analyzing the data collected during the first two phases and developing improved cloud seeding techniques.
Why in News
IITM Pune demonstrates cloud seeding can produce rainfall.
The approximate cost of producing water through cloud seeding was 18 paisa per litre.
The cost will drop by more than 50% if we use indigenous seeding aircraft.
A cloud seeding experiment carried out in Solapur city.
Which falls on the leeward side of the Western Ghats and hence gets low rainfall — 384 mm and 422 mm of total rainfall during the period June to September 2018 and 2019
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