EPA. Cloud seeding is usually carried out by sprinkling particles from a plane. As the rain falls, the Brisbane River hits moderate flood levels. Compared to the current flood, the factor is almost threefold. Laurel: Dr. Zou, thank you so much for being with us here on the Business Lab. But a probe by the Tasmanian government into the 2016 flooding has since been completed, and investigators and expert atmospheric scientists found that cloud seeding by Hydro Tasmania, a government-owned generator of renewable energy, did not contribute to or worsen the heavy rains. We wont run out of key ingredients for climate action, but mining comes with social and environmental ramifications. Social Credit? The post's caption states, "There were no flood warnings for the area in Tasmania targeted by a cloud-seeding operation the day before floods devastated the town of Ouse." In partnership withUAE Pavilion Expo 2020 Dubai. I used an eight cubic meter chamber with controlled humidity and temperature. For the third time this year, Sydney has been hit by major floods. As a result, flooding this time has been much more extensive from small creeks and large rivers, he says. Another weapon used to flood everyone,' a third wrote. Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification that has been around since the 1960s, and has been used repeatedly in some places, like Wyoming and Colorado. The damage was much worse than predicted. It can enhance precipitation in areas experiencing drought, among other uses. The process works by shooting microscopic particles of silver iodide into existing clouds using land based generators or aircraft. Staggering snowfall in California mountains leaves residents trapped for days, SpaceX launches new crew to space station, Prosecution wraps case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, White House cybersecurity strategy pivots to regulation, Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, feds say, Rape kits from two women lead to arrest in 1979 murder of one of them, FDA authorizes first at-home test for both COVID and flu, Couple accuses fertility clinic of implanting embryo with cancer genes, Several hospitalized after Lufthansa flight diverted to Dulles due to turbulence. Nobody has ever seen this amount of rain in such a short period of time over our south-east catchment, says the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, New UAE cloud seeding test in Texas shows 'promising results', Roomba testers feel misled after intimate images ended up on Facebook, How Rust went from a side project to the worlds most-loved programming language. But a probe by the Tasmanian government found that cloud seeding did not contribute to or worsen the heavy rains - a conclusion since backed by independent scientists and experts. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A planned factory marks a major milestone in the US for new batteries that enable lower-cost, longer-lasting EVs. So they form super cool vapor and crystallize into ice particles. So it is a synergistic effect. Nanotechnology can engineer material and design the material with well controlled size, shapes, and properties. Two words for you: nanoengineered materials. This podcast episode was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. Climatology and Geophysics Agency BMKG said the great flood that hit Jakarta in early 2020 was "one of the most extreme rain events" since . Formerly, cloud seeding was rejected in Australia on environmental grounds because of concerns about the protected species, the pygmy possum. 2022 AFP. 2023 BBC. The United Arab Emirates have been hit particularly hard by this season's sweltering heat, recording a 51.8C this June (that . She added at $28-$34 per acre foot, cloud seeding is relatively cheap. Cloud seeding has strict requirements. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that cloud seeding leads to climate change and natural disasters like floods. A 2016 news clip was associated with the recent floods in Australia. Australia 05:57 31 Mar 2022 . What did you develop and how will it facilitate future research? Oct 15 (Reuters) - Floods caused by torrential rain are hitting large swathes of southeast Australia, inundating hundreds of homes and forcing authorities to urge thousands of people to evacuate . Experts said that the floods in Australia were naturally occurring and cloud seeding cannot cause flooding. Observed so far: 1. There is no evidence to prove cloud seeding affected the flood. Prime inner-city areas including much of the South Bank precinct are underwater. The flight path of the Handel Aviation aircraft VH-JIL criss-crossing over flooded areas was also shared online by Australian fashion designer Alice McCall alongside claims it was dropping chemicals to "activate rain.". Usually, silver iodide particles are used. But others were distressed, telling the experienced pilot they had lost everything during the floods and thought the company was responsible. They remain as vapors in the air and move higher and further. customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters youd like to receive. In it, the newsreader reports on concerns by Tasmanian residents that the region's worst floods in 40 years could have been linked to cloud seeding. Snowy Hydro's Cloud Seeding Program boasts that it has been able to increase rain or snow by 14 percent over the colder months. There are up to 15,000 homes flooded in the city, with 1,544 people in evacuation centres in the south-east. Today, that endeavor is making incredible leaps and bounds as scientists and engineers apply nanotechnology to improve the effectiveness of cloud seeding. Cloud seeding gives these clouds a lot more ice crystals (or cloud nuclei). The silver iodide causes water droplets in the clouds to form ice crystals that become heavier and fall faster, releasing precipitation. New video piece available now! To help advance the science, in 2015 the UAE government launched a new initiative, the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science. Mr Bartolo moved to the Gold Coast in November 2020 after he was charged with incitement for organising illegal protests during Melbourne's lockdown. Another added: 'Absolutely nothing natural about the rainfall in the past 5 months. It is not yet known whether these findings also apply to wild conditions. Under NSW legislation, Snowy Hydro can only cloud seed when precipitation is likely to fall as snow to elevations below 1,400 metres. The photograph shows two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) DC-3 planes flying above some cumulus clouds. Cloud seeding is used in parts of Australia to enhance rain, snowfall and water security. Cloud seeding is a real thing. Towards New Zealand, Domensino says, an area of high pressure known as a blocking high stops the system from moving away into the Tasman Sea. History of cloud seeding in Australia 7.5 Americans made the discovery in 1946 that pellets of dry ice could induce precipitation from clouds. Apr 22, 2022. Hydro Tasmania, a hydroelectric corporation, published their analysis after the flood to say that a cloud seeding flight was undertaken on June 5, 2016, which had no measurable impact on rainfall. On the other hand, I am also dedicated to the scale up of the production, reduce the cost, and the application of the materials. Laurel: Although cloud seeding has been around for decades, how does today's technology move it toward a greater success rate? About as much as eight months' worth of rain has come down in just four days, bringing parts of Australia's largest city to a standstill. Silver iodide is an ice-forming agent, which causes supercooled water droplets to freeze in the clouds. that happened throughout February and March in Queensland and New South Wales, leading to more than a dozen deaths. Dr. Zou: Yes. Discover special offers, top stories, Recent social media posts claim that the 2022 floods in Australia were caused or exacerbated due to cloud seeding. Most research has found that AgI, when dispersed in cloud seeding, has no adverse health effects on the environment. We are looking forward to moving the seeding materials from laboratory to the commercial venture for not only cloud seeding applications, but wider applications, such as different weather modification efforts, including agriculture or crop protection, hail, or storm suppression, and the artificial snow making at the ski resort. Laurel Ruma: From MIT Technology Review, I'm Laurel Ruma, and this is Business Lab. Were not altering the updraft of the clouds. Read about our approach to external linking. Is that correct? A six-year study that Wyoming conducted from 2008 to 2013 among the most ambitious done thus far estimated that cloud seeding can boost precipitation within seedable clouds by about 3.3 . The floods have once again turned deadly, with the body of a man swept away by floodwaters in Queensland found by police this morning, bringing the state's death toll to 19 since January. The tiny vapors rise into the atmosphere without condensation nuclei, which are small particles. CORRECTION: We have added an additional source relating to cloud seeding that debates its harmless nature. Some areas that flow into the river have had 300mm of rain in just six hours. THE FACTS: In recent months, Australias southeastern coast has experienced some of its, in more than a decade, leading some social media users to highlight a previous instance of flooding and spread false theories about what caused, Twitter users are sharing a clip from a 2016 news broadcast about flooding in Tasmania to claim it proves that. For one of the planes, only the nose and part of the propeller are visible, and the photograph appears to have been . The flight lasted an hour and 34 minutes over the Upper Derwent catchment, targeting Lake Echo. Figure 1: The area which is primarily targeted for increased precipitation from cloud seeding operations is shown in red (approximately 2110 km). It can enhance precipitation in areas experiencing drought, among other uses. BBC. There is already local flooding from the intense and incessant rain that is interspersed with violent thunderstorms. It involves manipulating existing clouds to try and help them produce more rain or snow. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Cloud seeding is an artificial weather modification technique that involves introducing cloud condensation nuclei into the atmosphere, which enhances a clouds ability to produce rain and snow. My research work has been supported in their first cycle and received excellent worldwide exposure. Prof Bofu Yu, of Griffith Universitys Australian Rivers Institute, says in 2011 rainfall was concentrated in the west and not as widespread as the current flooding. Centrelink jobseeker overhauled with new 'point-based system' . FILE - Buildings are surrounded by flood waters in Londonderry on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Thursday, March 3, 2022. CLAIM: A rain-enhancing process known as cloud seeding caused historic flooding in Tasmania, Australia, in 2016 and along Australias southeastern coast this year. In Australia, cloud seeding is used in some areas to increase surface water runoff for use in the production of hydropower. At Gympie, 200km north of Brisbane, a flood warning is issued for the Mary River. The delivery of this salt is to vaporize them by ignition by a flare device. To better understand the icons, colours and weather terms used throughout Weatherzone, please check the legend and glossary. APS ASSESSMENT: False. If you continue to get this message, Laurel: Your research focuses on the cloud seeding material itself, specifically the nanomaterials as you mentioned, which is a more effective tool in generating rain from existing clouds. Laurel: That was Dr. Linda Zou, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, who I spoke with from Cambridge, Massachusetts, the home of MIT and MIT Technology Review, overlooking the Charles River. After extensive testing, the CSIRO has determined that cloud seeding is unlikely to be effective in much of Australia. Like: 'we have the pilots' names, we know where you live, you're going to pay for this,' kind of stuff," Handel told AFP. This show is available wherever you get your podcasts. According to some laboratory studies, a high concentration of AgI can affect smaller organisms like algae and bacteria when applied consistently over a long period of time. Cloud seeding, first developed in the 1940s, involves spraying fine particles of silver iodide and dry ice into a cloud system. Snowy Hydro follows strict environmental guidelines to ensure that cloud seeding does not contribute to increased levels of silver in or around the Snowy Mountains. out 'cloud seeding' - a weather . The information and techniques are out of date and their effectiveness is not well understood.. Electric vehicles have been available for decades. Cloud seeding is a real thing. Since the 1940s, scientists have studied ways to increase rainfall with the goal of increasing precipitation in arid and semi-arid climates. This is a black-and-white photograph of a cloud-seeding operation over the Pacific Ocean near Sydney. Conspiracy theorists claim the floods devastating Australia's east coast are a 'government weather warfare attack' triggered by 'chemtrails' James Bartolo, former Melbourne anti-lockdown leader . Atmospheric water is one such alternative resource. Steven Siems, from Monash University's School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment, is a cloud expert. >$379 million (2022 USD) [1] Heavy flooding broke out in the Central Coast and Sydney areas of New South Wales, Australia, beginning in early July 2022. [2] [3] Around 85,000 people were displaced by the flooding or requested to leave their homes by authorities. 4m ago. Commonly called "chemtrails" this "cloud seeding" is picking up in pace. 'The Gold Coast and surrounds is currently under a government weather warfare attack,' he told his army of devoted followers. Dr. Zou: The conventional cloud seeding materials include mostly hydroscopic salt mixture, which can change from salt crystals into water droplets at the right condition. 15 February 2014. 2022. As floods devastated Australia's east coast, social media posts accused a pilot of causing the disaster through cloud seeding, a weather modification technique that involves dropping a rain-inducing chemical into clouds. If we had started where we started from in 2011 we would be in serious trouble.. JB Straubel speaks about his company, Redwood Materials, and what challenges loom for batteries. Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. We know the oceans are getting warmer and that puts more moisture in the atmosphere, and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.. This material can initiate ice nucleation followed by rapid growth starting from a temperature of minus 80 degrees. An amusement ride is seen inundated by floodwaters in Sydney. The first trials were carried out near Sydney by Kraus and Squires in 1947. A spokesman for the state's water authority says the dam doesn't have a flood mitigation component, so no water was released ahead of the downpour, which came when the state's dam network . Feast to Famine: Mass Floods and Australia's High-Speed Rail. Here are the tales of two unsuccessful Queensland rainmaking experiments -Brisbane, 1882 Advertisement, The Brisbane Courier, January 31, 1882In January . "These aerial captures are commissioned after major weather catastrophes and natural disasters, including following the recent east coast flooding," the NearMap spokesman said. Resources: https: . As Brisbane starts a long and costly clean-up, hundreds of cars are stuck on the main M1 highway to the south. Top Stories. The technique has been around for decades. We dont have that technology, she said. Through the advancement in nanotechnology and nanoscience, nowadays we are working to design and engineer cloud-seeding materials with optimal properties to ensure water vapor condensation will occur effectively and maximize the rainfall achieved, explains Dr. Zou. But conspiracy theorists aren't buying it. Snowy Hydro also has other criteria for cloud seeding which includes; In addition to these atmospheric conditions, Snowy Hydro also takes into account the amount of water already in the landscape. Trains are cancelled, bus services limited, the main Bruce Highway is closed at multiple locations and 51,000 people are without power. Because the process is random and uncertain, the form and size of the particle cannot be controlled and most are probably too small to be effective cloud seeding materials. Scientists blame intense rainfall on a combination of factors - but, on social media, unfounded allegations of "weather manipulation" have spread widely. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has expressed her concern over the impact of the floods as the state is inundated by rain. As well as the rising river levels, the amount of rain falling locally causes flash floods all across the city and its outer suburbs as creeks swell, inundating areas that escaped the 2011 floods. That is about three Sydney Harbours worth of water. As you know, cold clouds with sub-zero temperatures are also present in the atmosphere. On March 30, 2022, BBC News reported that thousands of people had to evacuate their homes due to a severe flood on the east coast of Australia. Dr. Zou's research interests include applying nanotechnology and membrane science to the development of low energy and high efficiency novel desalination and water purification solutions. China, which already artificially alters its weather over major cities, plans to be able to modify weather over half its territory by 2025, to the alarm of neighbours including India. Water vapour gathers around the particles and eventually falls as precipitation. one follower wrote. Its no wonder then that several 'cloud seeding' (rain-making) experiments have been conducted in Australia. A dangerous and bizarre conspiracy theory is circulating that the devastating floods which have torn through Australia's east coast are part of a 'government weather warfare attack'. , first developed in the 1940s, involves spraying fine particles of silver iodide and dry ice into a cloud system. Do not sell or share my personal information. Handel Aviation operator Mark Handel told AFP on Thursday that the company does not seed clouds. Seeding clouds as a way to change weather began its history as a serious science during WWII, originally as a way to interrupt severe storms or to produce rain and snow. "Handel Aviation operates aerial photography aircraft only. This is done by firing small particles (usually silver iodide) into clouds . A conspiracy theorist claims destructive rain and flooding in south-eastern Queensland and northern NSW are the result of man-made weather manipulation from "cloud seeding".. Additionally, silver iodide, a common agent . Hydro Tasmania also denied that its flights were to blame and said in a statement that an analysis shows the operation had no measurable impact on rainfall on that day.. Cloud seeding experiments began in Australia in 1947, shortly after the classic experiments of Schaefer (1946) in America showing that pellets of dry ice could rapidly glaciate a laboratory cloud. For cloud seeding to produce rain you need moisture to begin with. The Bureau of Meteorology warns that an area of low pressure over the south coast of Queensland is dragging in moisture from the Coral Sea to the north and then lifting it over the coastline. Dr. Zou: We want to move the materials, as I mentioned, from laboratory already and scale up, so it has a chance of reaching the market and to reach many different parts of the world as well, because there are so many countries worldwide that practice weather modification. 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