Drones and rockets are being deployed in China to rain into the clouds as record heat waves and severe drought continue.
This device sprinkles clouds with silver iodide, which has a structure similar to ice.
Water droplets gather around particles, altering cloud structure and increasing the likelihood of rainfall.
Drones are deployed in parts of China
The practice, known as cloud seeding, has been practiced during China’s hottest and driest summers since the country began keeping temperature and precipitation records in 1961.
The temperature has been above 40 degrees (104 degrees) over the past week.
Huang Haojuan, deputy director of the weather regulation bureau in southwestern China’s Guizhou province, said Thursday that eight flights are planned to cover the entire province.
“Typhoon Maon has brought rain conditions to Guizhou province. To increase rainfall as much as possible, we have made preparations both on the ground and in the air so that aircraft operate frequently on Thursdays and Fridays.” he said.
Drones were dispatched to Sichuan province in southwestern China to bring rainfall over more than 600 square kilometers (232 square miles) of land.
Local authorities used rockets to bring rainfall to 20 counties and districts in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing on Thursday.
In the Tonga district of the municipality, 15 rockets were fired six times and the long-anticipated rain fell.
“Currently, the supply of artificially influenced rockets is quite sufficient,” said Wang Jidong, deputy director of the local meteorological bureau.
“To further mitigate the drought and high temperatures in the region, we have enhanced weather monitoring and implemented artificial precipitation maneuvers accordingly.”
A drone arrived in central China’s Henan province, one of China’s breadbaskets, on Thursday to bring artificial precipitation to the region.
Li Xingyu, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: Work directly on the cloud and show higher efficiency.
“This gives better results compared to traditional methods when working with large cloud sheets.”
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China’s record heatwave is now beginning to subside, and farmers across the country are assessing the damage caused by the prolonged drought.
More than 70 days of extreme temperatures and low rainfall have wreaked havoc on the Yangtze River Basin, which supports more than 450 million people and a third of the country’s crops.
Severe heatwaves have sparked wildfires, withered crops and dried up hydroelectric systems.
