CHINA-TIBET: LARGE SCALE RAIN SEEDING ACROSS TIBETAN PLATEAU

Interesting Engineering reported on March 27, 2018 that China is planning to implement a large-scale weather changing project to ensure a consistent rain supply in the Tibetan Plateau.
If successful the system will increase the water supply by five to 10 billion cubic meters a year. President of China's Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Lei Fanpei said the project “[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 well being of the entire human race.” The system will involve creating a network of solid fuel burning chambers that produce silver iodide, a compound with a structure much like ice that can be used in cloud seeding. The system has the potential to increase rainfall in the region by up to 10 billion cubic meters a year. Tens of thousands of the small burning chambers will be installed across the Tibetan Plateau in an attempt to increase rainfall in an area three times as big as Spain (620,000 square miles). The burning chambers have been designed by space scientists who needed to find a way to efficiently burn the high-density solid fuel in the oxygen-scarce environment at an altitude of over 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). The current design of the chambers is so precise that it can reportedly burn for months without maintenance and emits only vapors and carbon dioxide, which allows them to be used even in environmentally sensitive areas.The system has been developed as part of a defence project by China’s state-owned Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The United States and Russia have all reportedly developed weather changing technology to possibly hinder opposition in times of warfare. The Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation recently signed an agreement with the Tsinghua University and Qinghai province to install the weather modification system on a large scale.

(Comment: The project will have immense direct consequences for India. It will very soon sharply reduce water flows in the Ganga, Brahmaputra and other glacier-fed rivers that originate in Tibet as the rains will lead to warmer temperatures and accelerate retreat of the glaciers. There will increased danger of flash floods and landslides in the region apart from disturbing the delicate ecological balance.)






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