China wants to manufacture 10 billion tons of rainfall on the Tibetan Plateau by building tens of thousands of chemical furnaces. The rainmakers, developed by China's Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, will burn chemical fuel to release silver iodide into the air. The silver iodide will allow water vapor to condense, forming clouds that will draw rain.
Hundreds of burners have already been set up in Tibet, a major water source for the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong and other rivers through China and Asia. A single cloud-seeding chamber could bring enough clouds and rainfall to cover a five-kilometer area, according to the South China Morning Post.
China hopes to bring rainfall and snow to an area of over 1.6 million square kilometers (about three time the size of Spain). The furnaces were originally developed as a part of a Chinese military program to use weather modification for defense.
Some researchers question the safety of the rain system: releasing silver iodide at ground level can potentially cause health issues for workers in the area. And forcing rainfall over a specific area could mean unpredicted consequences for other areas: “If you’re making it rain where it wouldn’t otherwise, you’re taking water out of the air that would have rained elsewhere," Adam Sobel, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University’s engineering school told Quartz.
Still, researchers working on the rainmakers marvel at their efficiency. “Sometimes snow would start falling almost immediately after we ignited the chamber. It was like standing on the stage of a magic show," a Chinese researcher said.
Source: South China Morning Post (via Quartz)
Laura Yan is a writer in Brooklyn. Her writing has appeared in Wired, GQ, The Cut, Pacific Standard, Longreads, The Outline, and elsewhere.
