Do not tame the beast, they say. There is always calm before a storm they say.
Imagine a world where you are making a diorama in school for a geography project because let’s face it, you were just plain unlucky but still pushing through. You take your shaving cream, lather it up and mix it with water and ice to demonstrate cloud formation. They may just look like bubbles in full honesty. Now imagine you can plant a seed by injecting a dye that will produce the results that you are looking for.
There is a lot of discussion about how you can control the weather but is it possible? Cloud seeding is weather modification technology that uses techniques to increase precipitation such as snow or rain by introducing ice nuclei into clouds.
These ice nuclei then provide a base for snowflakes to form. A molecule called Silver Iodide which unlike its name is not harmful to animals or humans but a naturally occurring compound in the environment is released into the clouds through airplanes, ground-based generators, infrared laser pulses and drones delivering electric charges.
Many people believe that while it is an effective way to control the weather, others are concerned about the potential health and environmental disasters it can cause. While cloud seeding can increase rainfall by 10 to 15%, there is concern about excessive rainfall causing floods and storms, increased pollution as well as silver toxicity.
However, initial experiments with cloud seeding date back to the 1940s and has been used in various arena such as event planning, agricultural uses and water supply augmentation, the health and environmental impacts thus being minimal due to low concentrations of substances being used.
While initially it was aimed to create a drought free environment there are many conspiracy theories surrounding its use mainly because people have a hard time trusting the government’s intention.
One famous conspiracy theory is the Chemtrail theory that started in 1996 when the United States Air Force circulated a paper about weather modification. People believed at that time that the government, the wealthy or the military are maliciously trying to send toxic chemical compounds into the sky that would form visible plumes in the sky which is similar to ‘contrails’ that would leads to severe side effects such as reducing life expectancy, sterilization and mind control.
The white streaks that you see trailing behind your jets and create strikes against the blue sky are actually contrails or condensation trails and they are seen when water vapor freezes and condenses around the exhaust from an airplane, not toxic chemical.
While this theory was debunked, a thousand more conspiracy theories have emerged so far. Many also believe that the Simpsons predicted the disastrous 2024 flood and rainfall in Dubai, a scary side effect of trying to control the weather.
While it is not a cost-effective measure to increase precipitation, the cloud seeding market is predicted to grow from $375.6 million in 2023 to roughly $684.2 million by 2032 with a compound annual growth rate of about 6.7%. The Asia Pacific region will be expected to dominate the cloud seeding market with a 77.93% share in 2023.
