China’s new multi-million-dollar weather altering technology will bring the rain

By Prarthana Mitra

China is reportedly developing a weather modification system designed to increase the rainfall in its usually arid north-western region, particularly the Tibetan plateau, which houses Asia’s biggest freshwater reserve. The new technology costs a whopping $168 million, and was sanctioned only recently by the country’s top economic leaders, according to Fortune magazine.

History of man playing God with nature

The new system is believed to bring about extensive cloud formation, a rise in precipitation and a high return on investment to the world’s second-largest economy. However, this is not the first time the Chinese have tried to manipulate weather conditions.

In the past, China has deployed cloud seeding technology at a massive scale in efforts to relieve drought or to clear the skies for public events, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and even to counter rising temperatures and urban smog. Some news reports even claim that countries like China, Russi, and the US have developed weather modification projects to designed to be used against their enemies in times of air warfare or to induce floods.

China’s new weather modification system designed to increase the rainfall in its usually arid north-western region, particularly the Tibetan plateau. Credit: Flickr Commons

New tech crucial for the future of water conservation, say Chinese ecologists

China’s new system will see tens of thousands of chambers built at selected locations across the Tibetan plateau to generate rainfall over an area of around 1.6 million square kilometres, thus becoming the world’s biggest weather modification project. If implemented properly, this three-year program is expected to increase rainfall by up to 10 billion cubic metres a year, according to a recent feasibility study conducted by the nation’s MET department.

“[So far,] more than 500 burners have been deployed on alpine slopes in Tibet, Xinjiang and other areas for experimental use. The data we have collected show very promising results,” researchers involved in the project told the South China Morning Post. Researchers and experts have high hopes of the new large-scale rainmaking apparatus playing a key role in helping resolve China’s fresh water crisis.

Lei Fanpei, the president of China’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, spoke of the importance of the project saying, “[Modifying the weather in Tibet] is a critical innovation to solve China’s water shortage problem. It will make an important contribution not only to China’s development and world prosperity, but also the wellbeing of the entire human race,” especially considering how Tibet’s lakes act as the source for most major South Asian rivers.

All you need to know about China’s new rainmaker

The fuel-burning chambers situated at an altitude of over 5,000 metres on the Tibetan plateau, have been developed by the Chinese state-owned aerospace corporation, using cutting-edge military rocket engine technology. The combustion of a high-density solid fuel in these burners will release particles of silver iodide—a cloud seeding agent—which will then be picked up by the monsoon winds from South Asia, thus inducing rain and snow over China’s soil.

Space scientists who designed it, however, faced difficulties in the earlier stages, in finding an effective way for the fuel to burn in Tibet’s oxygen-scare environment. Fortunately, however, the researchers claim to have overcome the challenge, kick-starting the program with burners, which are now expected to run for years to come, without any maintenance.