China modified the weather to ensure clear skies for political event: Reports

Beijing's Tsinghua University's study reveals that Chinese weather authorities effectively managed the weather ahead of a major political event earlier this year. On July 1, the Communist Party of China celebrated its centennial with tens of thousands of people in Tiananmen Square, and according to research done by Tsinghua University, a huge cloud-seeding operation in the hours prior provided clear skies and little air pollution. 

Cloud-seeding is a weather-modification technique in which chemicals, such as microscopic particles of silver iodide, are added to clouds, causing water droplets to cluster around them and increasing the likelihood of precipitation.

The Chinese government has been a vocal supporter of cloud-seeding technology, investing billions of dollars in efforts to influence the weather in order to safeguard agricultural regions or improve major events such as the 2008 Olympics, according to various media reports. The findings of the Tsinghua study add to a tiny but growing amount of scientific evidence supporting the technology's success. Other countries have also engaged in cloud seeding technology, but China has committed billions despite uncertainties about its effectiveness and whether controlling the weather in one place could disturb weather systems in other areas.

Cloud-seeding operation resulted in significant decline in air pollution

The SCMP stated on Monday that a recent research paper showed conclusive evidence that a cloud-seeding operation on the eve of the centennial resulted in a significant decline in air pollution. The celebration encountered extraordinary hurdles, according to the media agency, such as an unanticipated surge in air pollution and a gloomy sky during one of the wettest summers on record. It added that while factories and other polluting operations had been suspended in the days leading up to the event, the pollution had not evaporated due to limited airflow.

According to the Tsinghua University's research, which was led by environmental science professor Wang Can and published in the peer-reviewed Environmental Science journal, a two-hour cloud-seeding operation was launched on the eve of the CCP Centenary ceremony, and residents in nearby mountain regions reported seeing rockets fired into the sky on June 30. The rockets were claimed to be carrying silver iodine into the sky to induce rains, reportedly. The researchers claim that the artificial rain lowered PM2.5 air pollutants by more than two-thirds and altered the air quality index value from moderate to excellent according to WHO criteria.

China spent more than US$1.3 billion on the technology in the five years leading up to 2017, according to state media, and induced around 233.5 billion cubic metres of more rain. Officials reported in 2019 that weather manipulation techniques, such as firing iodine-packed shells to interrupt unfavourable weather fronts, had helped to cut hail damage by 70% in Xinjiang's agricultural districts each year.

(With inputs from agencies)

(Image: AP)