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Running Head: Cloud Seeding

Artificial Rain or Cloud Seeding

SUBMITTED TO:

MA’AM SARAH ASIF

SUBMITTED BY:

Arslan Ali 13-5794

Abdul Moeez 13-5779

Iqra Mehmood 13-5765

Hassan Khalil 13-5792

Afzaal Akram 13-5815

ORGANIZATION:

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, FAST NU LAHORE

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ABSTRACT

Water is an important constituent on this earth for every living being whether it is human, animal, plants
or any micro-organism. Everyone relies on water. Human body is made up of 60-70% of water. Only
2.5% of fresh water is present on earth out of which, 1.75% is in the form of glaciers and ice caps. In the
past there was water in almost every part of the world but now, as the population is increasing with time,
consumption of water is more and this will, in return, decrease the water resources like reservoirs and
rivers. This is creating a major threat to the living and have made scientists and researchers to find ways
to increase the rate of precipitation especially in those areas in which water is really scarce. One method is
cloud seeding which is the main topic of discussion of this research paper.
The purpose of the research is to study about cloud seeding or artificial rain, understand its working
mechanism and identify its pros and cons, in which areas and regions is it being implemented, what is its
capital and operational cost. The aspects that we have discussed in our research includes the capital and
maintenance cost of cloud seeding project, geological suitability and countries where it is successfully
implemented and where it cannot be implemented and the reason why it is not suitable for every country
to adopt and eliminate their water requirement.
There is no assurity that cloud seeding really increases the precipitation as number of questions by
researchers have turned down many experimental results.
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INTRODUCTION

Water is an important constituent on this earth for every living being whether it is human, animal, plants
or any micro-organism. Everyone relies on water. Without water, there will be no life on this planet.
About 71% of earth surface is covered in water. Out of 71% of water 97.5% water is ocean water or salty
water which is not useable and can only be used if it is passed through the de-salinization plant. 2.5% of
remaining fresh water still have 1.75% percent ice caps and glaciers that cannot be extractable. Only
0.75% water is available for use for the whole world. However, as the time is passing, the birth rate is
increasing and the death rate is decreasing. This will in return cause a massive increase in the population
and thus increase in the water consumption. Water is mostly consumed for drinking purpose, industries
such as dyes and tanneries, agriculture. One of the major and most important source of fresh water in
many deserted area is precipitation. Precipitation is basically a process in which water from different
resources evaporates, leaving all the salts and impurities behind, and make a cloud and this cloud will
travel to areas hot atmosphere and cause precipitation thus providing that area with fresh water naturally.
There are many countries that have no fresh water available due to the more population consuming less
amount of water available and less precipitation. As there is less water available, less water will evaporate
and make less rain clouds and thus causing drought. Drought lasted few days in the past years but as the is
passing, the duration of drought is increasing from days to months and even years in many countries.
Drought is the time period in which the precipitation is below average causing water shortage. Countries
like Libya, Jordan, Western Sahara, Yemen and Djibouti are countries that are most threatened by the
shortage of water as their water supply was not reliable. [1] It is suspected that world war III will be for
water. In order to cope with the water demand, there are many methods to increase precipitation and
tackle drought. One of the is artificial rain or cloud seeding. This process is being adopted in many
countries like Dubai, America. However, it is not suitable for every country. There are limitations and
drawbacks to this process as well.

Seeding is an old age method which is used for increasing the production rate. Cloud Seeding is a
chemical process used for modifying the weather in which chemicals are sprayed into already formed
clouds to increase the precipitation rate. The chemicals used are silver iodide or dry ice and calcium
carbide. These act as ice nuclei. These ice nuclei convert these water particles in the clouds into ice,
turning them heavier and in result they fall down in the form of rain. In Cloud Seeding one cannot control
the process, it’s just like cloud is a factory and by doing cloud seeding we add raw material in large
quantity to increase its production. It’s just for modification, like for increasing the amount of
precipitation. No new clouds are formed by cloud seeding. Already formed clouds like cumulonimbus are
subjected to cloud seeding experiment. This process increases 10-15% of the precipitation on average.
Cloud Seeding 4

The cloud seeding concept was first generated from the experiment od Schaefer (1946) and Vonnegut
(1947) showing that the liquid can be turn into ice crystals by the use of silver iodide. This experiment
turned out to be true based on the past observations like the visual observations of those clouds that did
not precipitated, the presence of super cooled water, comparison of clouds from one region to another and
data collected from radars.

How does Cloud Seeding works?

Cloud seeding is done by two ways:
I. Ground action (Generators)
II. Through airways
Through Airways
A specific type of seeding agent is added into special type of clouds, cumulonimbus which are
cauliflower shaped which are important rain produces, results in the chemical process and
transformation of rain particles into ice particles which in turn enhances the amount of
precipitation. If done in a mountainous region the ice particles convert into snow but if done in a
low level region they transform into rain particles before reaching the ground. Very few type of
cumulonimbus clouds results in the increase precipitation. As the result of this process only
1520% of precipitation is increased.
The plane takes cylinders of seeding agents most preferably silver iodide up in the atmosphere
and upon the selection of suitable cloud the silver iodide is released by hygroscopic method the
silver iodide particles then fall on to the tiny rainwater droplets already present in the clouds but
not heavy enough to fall on to the ground in the form of precipitation. Silver iodide thus acting as
an ice nuclei turn the rain water into ice particles, they then increase in size by expanding and
combining with other particles. When the particles become heavy enough it starts to fall. Cloud
before collapsing turn these ice particles in to rain particles. These clouds do not live long
enough for which particles collide on their own and turn into larger heavier particles thus only a
small fraction of particles of rain drops are required to convert into larger ones
If done in a proper orderly and timely way cloud seeding can be used to assist the natural
phenomenon in clouds by providing them with enough seeds to make large number of
precipitation.
Many seeding agents are used like Potassium chloride, Sodium chloride, Magnesium and
Silver Iodide, but silver iodide is the most preferred seeding agent because it acts as a glaciogenic
(ice nucleating) seeding material having similar properties as that of ice crystals. Silver Iodide is
mixed with a solvent (acetone) and sprayed as an aerosol in to a burner. The combusted solvent,
particles of silver iodide rise above the generators from the heat and are transported by the wind
into the clouds

Cloud Seeding by Generator

Trace quantities of the ice nucleating or seeding agent, silver iodide, are dispersed into the
atmosphere by ground based generators. There are 23 generator locations along the western
perimeter of the target area.
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Silver iodide is insoluble in water and non-bioavailable. It is used as the glaciogenic (ice
nucleating) seeding material because it has similar physical properties to natural ice crystals. The
particles are invisible to the naked eye (approximately 0.06 microns in diameter), and are so
small that over 300 million of them would fit onto the head of a pin.
Most generators are located on previously disturbed sites, generally in very remote locations
where grid power is unavailable. The sophisticated electronics, controls and protection measures
are powered by deep cycle batteries, and the burner is fueled by LPG. A wind turbine and a solar
panel are used to recharge the batteries.
Generators and gas cylinders are usually deployed in March and April and recovered around
October each year. Once deployed and tested, the generators are operated remotely from the
Snowy Mountains Control Centre located within Snowy Hydro’s main office in Cooma. They
are equipped with many alarms and protection measures to minimize any risk of environmental
harm.
Each generator when operating burns 1.25 liters of solution per hour, releasing around 20 grams
of silver iodide. Only very small amounts are used: Between 2010 and 2015 an annual average of
28 kg was dispersed over a target area greater than 2100 km².

SCHEMATIC PROCESS FOR CLOUD SEEDING

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STEP 1 Airplane Ground S ource

Airplanes and ground machinery,

both are used to add chemicals in
clouds. Airplane sprays while ground
machine use wind.

STEP 2

Chemical when added in clouds, it

increases the cloud size, condense it
and also freezes the moisture present
in clouds.

STEP 3

Those frozen particles will co ntinue to

freeze until they become heavy enough
and fall on the ground along with rain.
This snow also becomes water as it
reaches the ground.
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Pros of cloud seeding

1. Cloud seeding provides necessary environment for the rainfall to occur. It releases such
substances like silver iodide, potassium iodide and dry ice etc. that facilitates and stimulates
the cloud formation process. It makes the precipitation system more fast and efficient.
2. People all over the world especially farmers see rain as a major source of water. Without
rain it would be very difficult or almost impossible to meet the world’s water demand.
Cloud seeding is the revolutionary technology that would help to cope up with such drought
conditions. Its major advantage or function is that it can cause rainfall by its mechanism.
3. There are many areas of the world which are experiencing water shortage and drought. As
a result of such conditions such areas are not suitable for living and crops are also dying
due to water shortage. Cloud seeding would help to regulate the water and precipitation
process in such areas to make them hospitable and to promote living there. This would help
to utilize the land by providing the major need of life.
4. Many areas of the world are experiencing the severe weather conditions that would create
unsuitable conditions for the crops. Cloud seeding would help to regulate water vapors in
the atmosphere that helps to avoid creating such damaging weather conditions such as hail
or storms.
5. Water is the basic necessity for the growth of corps. Cloud seeding helps to provide this
basic necessity by its mechanism. This would increase the agricultural products thus
increasing the economy especially of the developing countries and the drought regions. For
human living, water is basic need of life thus providing the basic component of life, it
makes the inhospitable regions hospitable and increases the tourism and living in such
areas. This also regulates the economy.
Cons of cloud seeding
1. Cloud seeding is a process used to stimulate the rain process by the use of chemicals such
as silver iodide and few others. But silver iodide is the most important chemical that is
being used in this process of cloud seeding. Silver iodide is not found to be harmful for
the environment yet but more researches are being made to examine the effects of these
and the replacement chemicals on the environment.
2. The cost of the cloud seeding is pretty much as it involves the delivering of chemicals to
the sky and releasing them in the air. Generators are being installed on the ground or on
aircraft wings. These contains silver iodide solution with acetone which are being
released in the atmosphere to stimulate the rain formation process. All this process
involves a huge investment. It would be very difficult to install such setups in under
developing and poor countries.
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Boeing 747’s is equipped with silver iodide dispensers

3. The effectiveness of cloud seeding is not yet fully proven and it is still a matter of debate.
It has been proved to be effective in altering microphysical processes within the clouds,
stimulating rain formation and in converting super cooled liquid particles to ice particles.
But the amount of precipitation from the seeded cloud is yet not to be measured.
4. By adding the chemicals and artificial methods to alter the natural cloud formation
process may alter the weather patterns of the earth. After dispersing the chemicals inti the
air no, one knows whether it will cause the hail, storm or huge rainfall that may results in
flood. It may change the natural weather patterns that may result in huge destructions.
Countries in which Cloud Seeding is being done
Cloud Seeding is not mere a fictional science these days. It is being implemented throughout the
world on mega scale to overcome problems like drought. Drought is a major issue due to which
humans took this thing into their hands to modify the weather conditions as it is really expensive
to water millions of acres of land. There are many countries in which cloud seeding is being done
some of them are:
USA:
In USA cloud seeding is done on major scale to overcome the problems like drought. USA
spent total of $15million per year. As it turns to be very expensive for the country side farmers to
water their lands. So they pay government 5$ per acre to use this cloud seeding phenomenon.
This also reduces the amount of fog and thunderstorms but increases the amount of precipitation
Russia:
Military pilots are being used to seed the clouds because of the Chernobyl incident.
India:
Indian government just spent 62,63 crore Indian rupees on cloud seeding experiments
over the last six years. The experiment has been turned into practice by the Tamil Nadu
government and Karnataka states to increase the rainfall in drought affected areas Kuwait:
To counter drought and to increase the amount of rainfall, Kuwait is working on its
cloud seeding program with the help of local Environmental Public Authority Africa:
Cloud Seeding 9

In Mali and Nigeria, cloud seeding is done on a national scale as they are drought
effected regions.
China:
China is the biggest country to have largest cloud seeding experimental program in the
world. In china cloud seeding is being done way back from the time of Emperor Yu in 2150 BC.
China spent $150 million on a single regional cloud seeding program

WATER CYCLE

Evaporation

Collection Condensation

Percolation and
Precipitation
surface runoff

Infiltration

IMPLEMENTATION
This cloud seeding procedure has been adopted in different parts of the world. Many countries
are using this procedure to increase their precipitation. Dubai is a modern country but because of
its location and atmospheric effects, there is less natural precipitation. Due to this reason, Dubai
has started its cloud seeding program in 2010 for US 11$ million. In total, $558,000 was spent on
cloud-seeding operations in the UAE during 2015[2].
This is a costly project as its capital cost and maintenance cost is in million US dollar so
backward countries cannot afford this project to start in their country for precipitation purpose.
COST OF PROJECT
The main cost in this project is basically special airplanes, spraying planes, monitoring planes,
hangers, radar stations, price of chemicals, maintenance of aircrafts, rain gauge meter and
weather station. Also salaries of working staff. Mostly silver iodide is used for this project and it
according to an estimation, it is used almost around 3-4 metric ton. Where 1kg of silver iodide is
around 1000-2000$. Other than that operational cost includes monthly checkup of machinery,
aircrafts repairing and service, repairing of buildings etc. If all of these are working properly,
only then the project can give required results. As all of this requires millions of US dollar every
year so backward counties such as Ethiopia, Cambodia etc. that have no fresh water cannot
afford this project and thus lack water for drinking.
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It is estimated that the cost of water produced is about $1.50/m3/season/ha [3].

CONCLUSION
As we have discussed about the cloud seeding and how it is beneficial for artificial precipitation to
overcome drought. But this cannot be used worldwide because it has more disadvantages as well. Silver
iodide can create an adverse effect on any living health. Furthermore, this project requires a lot of capital
cost and maintenance cost and thus cannot be adopted by backward countries. Countries that are using
this project are also using some precautionary measures to improve reduce its negative effects which is
again in return a costly procedure. So this method Is not suitable for 3rd world countries because they do
not have such economy to capitalize such project. Overall this project is a good initiative for to overcome
drought in such areas where there is no precipitation for days. It is basically a weather modification
technique. With a little more research and more modification, this method will be available in very less
price and can be adopted by any type of country to remove their drought.
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REFERENCES

1. 5-countries-most-threatened-by-water-shortages. (2012, August 1). Retrieved from Seametrics:

http://www.seametrics.com/blog/5-countries-most-threatened-by-water-shortages/

2. Heialy, Y. A. (2016, April 28). arabianbusiness. Retrieved from arabianbusiness:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/revealed-558-000-spent-on-uae-cloud-seeding-operationslast-
year-629970.html#.V0mFa49OJYc

3. Cloud seeding. (G.K. Mather and D.E. Terblance), Retrieved from United Nation environment
programmer: http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/techpublications/TechPub-8a/cloud.asp
4. Bergeron T, 1949; The problem of artificial control of rainfall on the globe, I, General effects of ice-
nuclei in clouds. Tellus,1, 32-43
5. Czys, R.R. and R.T. Bruintjes.1994; A review of hygroscopic seeding experiments to enhance rainfall.J.
Wea.Mod.26,41-52