June 30,
2009
Indian
scientists are flying through storm clouds as part of a new plan to seed them
with rain-inducing chemicals to try to control the timing of the annual
monsoon, whose late arrival is causing havoc this year.
As
Britain sweltered in temperatures of up to 32C (90F), the late monsoon means
that India is suffering temperatures as high as 49C, which have caused severe
crop damage, water and power shortages, and at least 100 deaths.
In
·
The crisis
illustrates how vulnerable
The
Government is now hoping to change that by funding a three-year experiment to
work out how best to seed the monsoon clouds that sweep across the
sub-continent between June and September.
The
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, based in the western city of
Cloud
seeding involves spraying clouds with chemicals such as dry ice, silver iodide
and potassium or sodium chloride, which cause moisture particles to expand into
rain drops and then fall to the ground.
In
the first phase of the Indian experiment a light aircraft carrying three
scientists and their equipment is flying through rain clouds daily for two to
four hours, according to Professor Kulkarni.
“Yes,
it’s a little bit dangerous,” he said. “Normally, people avoid the monsoon
clouds — we go into them — but that’s a part of the research.” The equipment is
measuring the temperature, speed, chemical composition and moisture and
particle levels of the clouds from the inside, he said.
In
the second phase, during the 2010 and 2011 monsoons, two aircraft will randomly
seed clouds while rain gauges on the ground measure precipitation. In the third
phase in 2011-12 scientists will analyse the data, compile computer models, and
draw up guidelines on how to seed clouds.
Critics
say it is too expensive and risks upsetting the balance of nature and
exacerbating fierce water disputes between neighbouring states. Proponents
insist that it could ease an historic imbalance in rainfall that floods much of
eastern
Rainmakers
In
Dances
to summon rain are documented across the world and continue in the form of
paparuda, a Romanian ritual still performed in some villages. A young girl
leads a crowd, singing: “Come litle rain, come and make us wet”
The
1956 film The Rainmaker evokes the desperation of a dust-bowl community
in the American West, praying for rain amid a drought. The film’s heroine falls
in love with a conman, Starbuck, who captivates locals by promising to bring
rain
Operation
Popeye was a