Dec 9, 2021 12:31 AM
(This post was last modified: Dec 9, 2021 12:41 AM by C C.)
https://gizmodo.com/china-is-using-rocke...1848175761
EXCERPTS: What do you do when you urgently need to improve a city’s air quality ahead of a major event? If you’re the Chinese government, the answer is launching a military-style strike on the sky.
That’s according to a scientific paper out Tsinghua University first seen by the South China Morning Post, which details the Chinese government’s attempt to rapidly lower pollution levels ahead of the centenary celebration of the Communist Party’s founding in July.
Though factories and other industrial activities were ordered to slow down production ahead of the event to temporarily reduce air pollutants, an unusual stagnant weather pattern kept the particles lingering in the air. So, hours before the event, scientists reportedly shot rockets filled with silver iodide at the sky.
Silver iodide is commonly used in cloud seeding, a questionable technique to coax precipitation from the sky for various reasons, including knocking down pollution. Particles like silver iodine essentially act as nuclei for raindrops to form, allowing water droplets to coalesce until they become so heavy that they fall from the sky as rain or snow.
Dry ice, table salt, and liquid propane have also been used to entice the clouds into producing rain in the past. In theory, the practice can both speed up rain and snowfall while also inhibiting hail and fog. The track record is spotty, but in this case, it seems like it may have worked.
[...] The problem, though, is that it’s historically been frustratingly difficult to prove whether or not cloud seeding itself was the driving factor for increases in precipitation. Recent advances in radar and computer modeling are providing researchers with better ways to observe the effects of cloud seeding, and the recent findings could help refine the approach... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ajKxrtT07I4
EXCERPTS: What do you do when you urgently need to improve a city’s air quality ahead of a major event? If you’re the Chinese government, the answer is launching a military-style strike on the sky.
That’s according to a scientific paper out Tsinghua University first seen by the South China Morning Post, which details the Chinese government’s attempt to rapidly lower pollution levels ahead of the centenary celebration of the Communist Party’s founding in July.
Though factories and other industrial activities were ordered to slow down production ahead of the event to temporarily reduce air pollutants, an unusual stagnant weather pattern kept the particles lingering in the air. So, hours before the event, scientists reportedly shot rockets filled with silver iodide at the sky.
Silver iodide is commonly used in cloud seeding, a questionable technique to coax precipitation from the sky for various reasons, including knocking down pollution. Particles like silver iodine essentially act as nuclei for raindrops to form, allowing water droplets to coalesce until they become so heavy that they fall from the sky as rain or snow.
Dry ice, table salt, and liquid propane have also been used to entice the clouds into producing rain in the past. In theory, the practice can both speed up rain and snowfall while also inhibiting hail and fog. The track record is spotty, but in this case, it seems like it may have worked.
[...] The problem, though, is that it’s historically been frustratingly difficult to prove whether or not cloud seeding itself was the driving factor for increases in precipitation. Recent advances in radar and computer modeling are providing researchers with better ways to observe the effects of cloud seeding, and the recent findings could help refine the approach... (MORE - missing details)
