How cloud seeding makes it rain artificially

Summary

The video discusses cloud seeding, a controversial technique aimed at enhancing natural precipitation. It explains that clouds are composed of water droplets or ice crystals, and cloud seeding introduces seeding agents like silver iodide to encourage these particles to cluster and form precipitation. The technique is used for various purposes such as increasing snowfall for hydropower companies, protecting vineyards from hail, and reducing damage claims for insurance companies. While the costs can vary, they are often less compared to other water production technologies. However, cloud seeding cannot create rain, it only enhances existing clouds, and its effectiveness is still debated.

Highlights

• Cloud seeding uses silver iodide to encourage water droplets to cluster and form precipitation. 🌧️
• It's used by hydropower companies to increase snowfall and by wine regions to prevent hail damage. 🍇
• Costs vary, with hail projects being the most expensive, up to $1 million a year. 💲
• Cloud seeding can't extinguish forest fires or end droughts as it needs existing clouds to work. 🔥
• 52 countries have weather modification programs, but effectiveness remains uncertain. 🌎

Key Takeaways

• Cloud seeding is a technique to enhance natural precipitation using seeding agents. 🌧️
• Common seeding agents include silver iodide and sodium chloride, introduced into clouds via aircraft. ✈️
• Cloud seeding cannot create rain but can enhance precipitation from existing clouds. 🌩️
• The costs for cloud seeding are generally lower compared to other water production technologies. 💧
• There is still debate about the effectiveness of cloud seeding, despite its wide use. 🤔

Overview

Can we control the weather? Well, not quite, but cloud seeding gets us a tiny bit closer. This fascinating technique involves enhancing natural precipitation by sending special particles into the clouds, making them more likely to produce rain or snow. Imagine sending out a tiny army of ice nuclei, rallying the clouds to give us what we need. 🌧️

Many have jumped on the cloud seeding bandwagon, from hydropower companies looking to maximize winter snowfall to vineyards hoping to shield crops from damaging hail. Even insurance companies want in on the action to reduce their payouts from storm damage. But as promising as cloud seeding sounds, it's still a topic of fierce debate, with many questioning its actual effectiveness. 🤔

Of course, cloud seeding isn't a one-size-fits-all miracle. It's not going to summon rain in the middle of a dry spell or douse a forest fire. Instead, it needs existing clouds to work its magic. And while projects might cost up to $1 million a year, especially for hail suppression, it can still be cheaper than other water production methods. 🌧️

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Weather Control and Cloud Seeding The chapter 'Introduction to Weather Control and Cloud Seeding' discusses the concept of weather control, focusing on cloud seeding. It begins by addressing the common perception of weather, highlighting that while full control remains out of reach, advancements are being made. The chapter then introduces cloud seeding, described as enhancing natural precipitation. To understand this process, it first explains the nature of clouds, which consist of water droplets or ice crystals. These droplets are too minute to fall as precipitation but are sufficient to form clouds.
• 00:30 - 01:00: How Clouds Form and Cloud Seeding Mechanism Clouds are composed of supercooled droplets that exist below freezing but remain liquid. These droplets often float around without merging, similar to missed connections, but occasionally they collide, akin to commuters during rush hour. When water vapor droplets bump into each other, they stick to floating particles such as dust or smoke, thereby contributing to cloud formation.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Cloud Seeding Agents and Their Function The chapter explores cloud seeding agents and their functions, explaining how they can influence weather patterns by promoting more snow, more rain, or reducing the size of hail pellets. The process involves using seeding agents delivered by pyrotechnic flares attached to aircraft, likened to Roman candles, with the goal of introducing condensation nuclei. These nuclei facilitate increased collisions and clustering among ice crystals within clouds, optimizing conditions for desired weather effects.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Benefits and Applications of Cloud Seeding Cloud seeding involves using substances like dry ice, silver iodide, or sodium chloride as seeding agents to enhance precipitation. Silver iodide has a hexagonal structure similar to ice, making it effective as ice tends to bond with it. This process helps water droplets in clouds release water vapor, which is then absorbed by existing ice crystals, allowing them to grow.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Cloud Seeding Costs and Economic Comparison Cloud seeding involves the introduction of substances into the atmosphere to encourage rain or snowfall. This chapter highlights the benefits and economic advantages of cloud seeding, particularly for industries dependent on water resources, such as hydropower companies. For instance, increasing snowfall during winter can significantly boost water runoff in spring, which is beneficial for companies like Idaho Power Company. The chapter explores how such organizations gain a valuable return on investment through enhanced water availability generated by cloud seeding practices.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Addressing Misconceptions and Global Usage This chapter discusses the use of cloud seeding technology across various industries and regions, including hydroelectricity sectors in Mendoza, Argentina, and insurance companies in Alberta. Cloud seeding is employed primarily for purposes such as hail suppression to protect vineyards and reduce damage claims. The chapter also touches on the cost aspect, noting that hail suppression projects are the most expensive, with costs ranging from $200,000 to $1 million annually.

How cloud seeding makes it rain artificially Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 we talked about it sing about it and definitely complain about it the weather but have we come to the point where we can control the weather technically that's still too good to be true but the winds might be changing let's talk about cloud seeding it's described as the enhancement of natural precipitation to explain how cloud seeding works we need to first talk about clouds clouds are a bunch of water droplets or ice crystals floating in the sky the water droplets are too small to fall as precipitation but they are large enough to form the
• 00:30 - 01:00 clouds we see in most parts of the world these droplets are supercooled meaning they're below freezing but they remain liquid now sometimes these droplets are just milling around pushing past each other and not sticking together kind of like a missed connection other times these droplets bump into each other like commuters on a train during a busy rush hour the water vapors collide and stick to particles floating in the air it could be dust smoke particles or even
• 01:00 - 01:30 meteoric debris those are known as condensation nuclei so cloud seeding can produce what we want more or less of more snow more rain or smaller hail pellets this is done by introducing a seeding agent through pyrotechnic flares attached to an aircraft think Roman candles with a mission a mission to deliver those condensation nuclei that encourage more collisions and group Huddle's by ice crystals inside the cloud common seeding agents used on our
• 01:30 - 02:00 dry ice the solid form of carbon dioxide silver iodide or simple salts like sodium chloride seeding agents act as additional ice nuclei in the case of silver iodide its structure is very similar to ice hexagonal which is why experts think ice wants to bond to it when silver iodide is used in a cloud water droplets begin to give up water vapor and shrink at the same time the ice crystals already present in the cloud collect this moisture and grow as
• 02:00 - 02:30 ice crystals bang into other ice crystals they become larger and heavier until they fall from the cloud so why would we even want to do this who does it benefit in the winter time increase in snowfall and is you know a very significant value add to organizations like hydropower companies Idaho Power Company for example is interested in having more snowfall during the winter because this produces more runoff in the springtime for
• 02:30 - 03:00 hydroelectricity wineries such as ones in Mendoza Argentina have also used cloud seeding to protect their vineyards from damage through hail suppression and lastly insurance companies like ones in Alberta fund cloud seeding projects in order to lessen damage claims they receive so how much does it cost well the cost can vary hail is the most expensive rain projects less expensive running two hundred thousand dollars to 1 million dollars a year and that might
• 03:00 - 03:30 produce an extra 1.5 to 4.5 meters of snow in the mountains or an extra 50 to 125 millimetres of rain in the summer and you compare that to what is in the market price for water or comparable technologies and creating more surface and ground water that is desalinization groundwater recharge some of these are or even building dams and infrastructure or a fraction of that cost so now that
• 03:30 - 04:00 we know how it works here are some myths busted why don't they cloud sea to extinguish forest fires because you can't create rain with cloud seeding you can only enhance clouds that are already present in cloud seeding result droughts not really because all precipitation requires clouds if it's already dry there won't be enough moisture to rise in the air no clouds no extra moisture no chance of enhancement however what can be done is to increase snow production and rainfall when there are clouds to work with in
• 04:00 - 04:30 other words it needs to be pre-emptive but does it work in 2008 Beijing claimed that they made it rain early with cloud seeding to ensure blue skies with the Olympic opening ceremony in contrast the American Meteorological Society released a statement in 2010 saying there still uncertainty whether current cloud seeding techniques we work to achieve the desired changes in precipitation according to the World Meteorological Organization 52 countries have a weather modification program and
• 04:30 - 05:00 many of them continue to boost funding for such operations all in an effort to perhaps one day control the weather thanks for watching global news if you enjoyed what you just saw please like the video also hit the subscribe button on the screen to make sure you get all the latest international news and best trending video