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Scientists Create 52 Artificial Rain Storms in Abu Dhabi Desert
By: Josh Sanburn
Topics: Abu Dhabi, China, Cloud Seeding, Middle East, Science, United Arab Emirates, water, weather

Fifty-two storms in Abu Dhabi this summer were artifically created.

Hail, lightning and gales came through the state's eastern region this summer thanks to scientist-puppetmasters.

As part of a secret program to control the weather in the Middle East, scientists working for the United Arab Emirates government artificially created rain where rain is generally nowhere to be found. The $11 million project, which began in July, put steel lampshade-looking ionizers in the desert to produce charged particles. The negatively charged ions rose with the hot air, attracting dust. Moisture then condensed around the dust and eventually produced a rain cloud. A bunch of rain clouds.

On the 52 days it rained in the region throughout July and August, forecasters did not predict rain once.

While fascinating, this is not the first time scientists have attempted to mess with Mother Nature. China has been tinkering with cloud seeding for years, not always successfully.

(Read TIME's story about how the Chinese artificially created snow.)

But the idea that countries in the Middle East could actually create rain in this water-poor region could go a long way to solving the area's problems with drought and is considered to be cheaper than desalination. But how controllable the weather can be is still in doubt, and the consequences of meddling with nature at this level are yet to be seen.


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Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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Awareness + Awakening = Higher Consciousness

How Did the Chinese Create Snow?
By Dan Fletcher Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

A police officer stands guard in a snowy Tiananmen Square on Nov. 1, 2009
Cai Yang / Xinhua / AP

"Everybody complains about the weather," the old saying goes, "But nobody does anything about it." That is, until now. A Nov. 1 snowfall in Beijing — the city's earliest since 1987 — is due, Chinese scientists say, to a campaign of "cloud-seeding" to encourage precipitation. If true, it's the wettest success yet in a long-standing effort to bring moisture artificially to the parched northern regions of China. So how'd they do it? (See pictures of the science of snowflakes.)

For those who haven't had a meteorology class since middle school, a quick review of Weather 101: Colder air encourages precipitation, so when the temperature drops at high altitude, water naturally condenses out of the air. Clouds are formed when this moisture, suspended in tiny droplets or crystals, meets a condensation nuclei — small particles of dust or ice that are blown about the upper atmosphere. Without these small particles, clouds can't form.

The method of cloud-seeding used by the Chinese involves dosing the atmosphere with silver iodide, a chemical solution either dropped from planes or shot up from the ground. (Other methods use salt or dry ice.) The silver iodide particles supercharge cloud formation, as they act as excellent condensation nuclei. Once clouds form, they also start a positive feedback effect. As droplets freeze and are added to the cloud, they release their heat, creating an updraft which draws additional moisture from the ground into the atmosphere.

That's the theory, anyway. The effectiveness of cloud-seeding is still disputed, because it's difficult to say with any certainty that cloud-seeding is responsible for a storm rather than Mother Nature. But if you choose to believe in cloud-seeding, the Chinese scientists may have even overdone it. The snowstorm lasted for 11 hours, disrupting flights in and out of Beijing and hampering shipping off the Chinese coast. Still, expect few complaints from the generally dry region; it's the most accumulation the city's seen in a decade, and further proof the Chinese may be becoming the world's best at managing weather. In a 2008 experiment, scientists seeded clouds in advance of the Beijing Olympics, successfully ensuring clear skies for the opening ceremony.


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Last Edit: January 03, 2011, 08:26:46 PM by looking4truth
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Awareness + Awakening = Higher Consciousness

I tried to see if there were any articles on America doing similar experiments. I couldn't find anything. Maybe one of you guys are a better searcher than me but I could not find anything on TIME's website on it.
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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Awareness + Awakening = Higher Consciousness

*

Andrea

Los Angeles just had a bunch of snow...
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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This is scary... I wonder if the flood in Pakistan was also artificially created...  :?
Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Guest
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