Water Bankruptcy and Cloud Seeding
Is cloud seeding the answer to concerns over water bankruptcy?
One of the primary reasons for water bankruptcy worldwide is the lack of snowfall during the cold season. Snowfall, especially in mountainous areas, ensures a sustainable freshwater reservoir during the warmer seasons.
With less and less snowfall every year, the world is quickly running out of underground water reserves. This phenomenon can not only exacerbate the water shortage problem, but it can also lead to devastating landslides during the rainy months. The only solution for preventing these disasters from happening is to make sure that there will be enough snowfall next winter so that underground water tables can replenish themselves.
What is cloud seeding?
Currently, the only way to ensure plentiful snowfall during the winter is cloud seeding. Cloud seeding is when airplanes inject tiny particles of silver iodide into cloudy areas in the sky. These particles look a lot like ice bits, and they can fool the cloud into thinking they are ice bits.
Other bits of ice gradually attach themselves to the silver iodide particles and become larger and larger. So much that they cannot stay on the cloud anymore, and they start to fall as snow.
Cloud seeding has other applications as well. This technique is also used to reduce hail size and reduce fog in strategic places such as airports.
One of the essential points about cloud seeding is time and location. If the seeding modules are set on the ground, they would have to be positioned carefully to target major underground water basins accurately. Also, the timing has to be perfect; the cloud seeding flares have to be fired exactly when high water concentrations pass over the flare sites.
When done successfully, the whole system takes about 45 minutes. It takes 20 to 25 minutes for the flare to send all the silver iodide particles into the air. After that, it takes another 20 minutes for water molecules to gather around the particles and fall as rain or snow.
There are concerns about the long-term effects of the silver iodide particles on animal and plant life as they come down and get absorbed by the earth. However, the truth is that silver is inert, so that it won’t interact with any animal and plant life. What’s more, iodide or iodine is one of the necessary components in most organic hormones. So, it is safe to assume that the particles used in cloud seeding won’t harm nature in any way.
Which companies are involved in cloud seeding?
North America Weather Consultants Inc.
North America Weather Consultants (NAWC) has been working for over 50 years to design and develop proprietary weather forecast and control technologies. This company can provide personalized, localized forecasts for companies and facilities which rely heavily on the weather for their operations. Having a personal meteorologist in the mix can help these facilities plan their operations more accurately and successfully.
Some of the services NAWC offers include forensic studies, specialized forecasts, applied meteorology, and, most importantly, cloud seeding. This company offers its clientele customized services and guarantees measurable results.
AFJETS SDN BHD
AFJETS is a company based in Malasia. This company offers services in aircraft charter, flight tours, aviation consultation, and weather modification. Unlike NAWC, this company’s cloud seeding services are primarily for government agencies. These services, which began in 2011, are only provided by AFJETS and are more cost-efficient than other methods of fighting water shortages in the country.
Over the last few years, Malasia has been facing severe water shortages due to a lack of rainfall. This shortage has caused many lakes and rivers to dry up around the country. AFJETS has been doing cloud seeding operations around the locations of dams to control this problem and prevent it from getting out of hand. AFJETS even spend the equivalent of 71,590 dollars to make artificial rain in the state of Kelantan, which was suffering greatly from lack of water.
Ice Crystal Engineering LLC
Ice Crystal is an American company that makes and sells cloud seeding material and equipment. This company has 17 employees and has had about 3 million dollars of revenue in the second quarter of 2021. This revenue was 4.2 million dollars in 2021 and has suffered a decrease ever since.
Some of the cloud seeding equipment Ice Crystal sells include burn-in place flare racks. These racks are mounted underneath the airplane, and the flares are released when the time is right. Ejectable Flare Racks are made of stainless steel and aluminum. These racks take up to 102 flares, and they can be ejected when necessary. Ground base flare tree holds 108 flares, and it is mounted on the ground. The flares can be fired manually or remotely.
The cloud seeding equipment made by Ice Crystal is used in 23 different countries across the globe. These countries include the USA, Canada, Mexico, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, Korea, and many more.
Snowy Hydro Ltd
Snowy Hydro is mainly an Australian energy company. This company has been providing Australia with electric energy since 70 years ago. This company has 15 power stations around the country and has more than 5,500 MW of generating capacity.
Snowy Hydro’s cloud seeding program is responsible for 14% of Australia’s snowfall every year. This program covers 2,110 kilometers of mountainous areas and started in 2004. What’s more, environmental analysis of the Snowy Mountains from 2004 to 2009 showed no concentration of silver. Therefore, cloud seeding has had no ecological effect so far.
How large is the global market for cloud seeding?
Cloud seeding has become the standard method of weather modification preferred by both private and government agencies. The growth of this method is mainly due to two primary factors: first, the pressure communities face every year because of water shortages. Second, the suppression of unpleasant weather phenomena such as dense fogs and heavy hail storms limits everyday life.
Countries like China and Russia have invested vast sums of money in creating their own rain cycles and saving their people from water scarcity. However, European countries are not just sitting back. They, too, quickly catch up to the trend and invest more in cloud seeding technologies. This is a new market niche, one that is sure to boom in the coming years.
