Cloud seeding technology to increase rainfall | Fusion - WeRIndia

For the third year in a row, the monsoon season has failed in Karnataka. The drought is devastating both the crops and their farmers. People are moving away in mass migrations, several farmers are committing suicide, and others are fighting over regional water.

The agricultural situation in Karnataka only seems to be getting worse, and people are at a loss for what to do about it.

Therefore, the government of Karnataka has decided to take up an experiment to help boost the rain outcome: cloud seeding, in which rain clouds are artificially produced to help in dry seasons.

Cloud seeding works by spraying certain chemicals into the air, such as dry ice, to artificially create rain clouds.

This is not the first state to attempt the usage of this new technology to improve rainfall; Tamil Nadu was the first state to try cloud seeding in the 1980s.

Karnataka itself previously tried the technology in 2003, and Maharashtra tried it out in 2008.

However, all of these previous attempts at cloud seeding in India have been, for the most part, unsuccessful. For the cloud seeding to succeed, the clouds must have a certain thickness, and they must be at least seven kilometers from the ground.

Cloud seeding is not well-suited to India because of the reasons for which it is used in this country. In places like America, cloud seeding is mostly used as an experiment, and it has much more money invested in it for it to be successful.

 

However, in places like India, cloud seeding is used in situations such as this, with desperation. India does not have as much money to invest in cloud seeding, and nor can it afford it to fail.

Nevertheless, the Karnataka government is going forward with the cloud seeding this year, and perhaps this will be the first attempt that succeeds.

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