Final phase of cloud seeding project to commence soon

Pune, Jul 9 (PTI) In an effort to create rain
artificially, three nodal meteorological agencies led by IITM
scientists will carry out the final phase of a cloud seeding
research programme, for application in the rain shadow regions
of three Indian states.
A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology (IITM) will head the Indian Ministry of
Earth Sciences' project, undertaken as part of CAIPEX (Cloud
Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment).
"To aid the project, aircraft with specialised
instruments will be hired from South Africa and Israel, and
will have an operational base in Hyderabad," IITM scientist
and Project Director R Kulkarni said.
The other agencies involved in the Rs 50-crore project
envisaged to benefit the rain-starved regions of Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, are Indian Meteorological
Department and National Centre for Medium Range Weather
Forecasting.
"The second and the final operational phase of the
two-year long project, to be completed before the current
monsoon season, will include warm cloud seeding through salt
and hygroscopic flares.
"The experiment will help in understanding as to how
aerosol interact with cloud leading to enhancement of rain,"
Kulkarni, heading a team of 20 researchers said.
As part of the final phase operations, two aircraft
will be used for seeding and suspending tiny particles in the
atmosphere with the help of a "C-band radar" to see the cloud.
"CAIPEX will help scientists identify methodology to
enhance precipitation (rain)," he said, adding meteorological
sub-divisions had been referred to select the peninsular
rain shadow regions for the project.
CLOUD 2 LAST
The findings of the cloud seeding experiment in the
specified region will be sent to the Ministry of Earth
Sciences after compilation of the data, Project Director R
Kulkarni said.
The Phase-I of the project was carried out last year.
Explaining that aerosols are used to provide embryos
on which cloud droplets are formed, he said in the next phase
of the CAIPEX programme, the seeding impact would be measured
and analysed with automatic rain gauges.
"This experiment to enhance rainfall is continuing in
many other countries, including Israel, China, Indonesia,
Russia and Mexico. But we have the monsoon phenomenon which
they do not have."
"If the technology we are developing -- which is
similar to the one used by other countries -- is found
successful, it will help farmers in the rain shadow regions
vulnerable to drought," he said.
It can also be instrumental in effecting weather
modification such as hail suppression and cloud dispersion,
the scientist added. PTI HBJ
SSB